Of Tears and Venom: Orginal
by TheDivineDemon
Summary: Infected with Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears Harry Potter's body changes. And he starts to wonder if he is even human anymore. eventual FxHxT. canceled and being rewritten- see profile for rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

**In two or three fics I've read about this scene (for those who want to take credit for the idea step up) and how it changed Harry but everyone just puts it in as a trivial fact and doesn't put it in as a major part of the plot. So I am going to attempt. Oh and I'm probably going to alter the scene a bit.**

**Oh and this belongs to J.K. Rowling not me.**

**Chapter one: Change Hurts**

The memory of a most vile man taunted a young boy as he flung curse after curse at him, distracting the child from his fight with the giant beast known as a Basilisk; a giant snake that served under one of the four founders of the school they fought in, Salazar Slytherin.

At one point the bird who brought the boy the sword flew into the path of one of the killing curses he flung at the boy, shielding him from the damage but mortally wounding it's self. It landed in a bloody pile by the girl the boy was so desperately trying to save.

"No!" the boy yelled looking down towards his fallen friend, leaving himself open for the fangs of the beast to dig deep into his arm and push it's vile poison through him. He let out a scream of pain but still managed to push the blade of the sword through the beast's mouth and into its brain.

The creature let out its own shriek as the pain came but it refused to let go of its pray, wishing to take him down as it fell. Its body spasmed as it died, collapsing near its soon to be ex-master.

The man in question looked at the dying beast as though he were watching a pair of shoes get scuffed; annoying but no matter. "So this is the end of the great Harry Potter, the boy who defeated the older me when he was just a baby. Writhing in agony as death quickly sneaks up on him."

The boy in question was currently hobbling over towards him and the girl in pain, holding the broken off fang that was embedded in his arm. Harry fell to his knees in pain but still bent over to check if his friend was alright. When he touched her, his worry increased. She was cold, almost too cold for someone living.

"Isn't it funny what a book can do in a stupid little girl's hands?" the memory said as he walked over raising the wand he had stolen from Harry, preparing for another spell. But the look of pure rage crossing Harry's face as he pulled the diary from the girl's hands made him pause.

"What are you doing, Potter?" the man snarled as he lifted the wand up again but this time his arm visibly shook in what could be fear.

The boy said nothing as he continued to glare at the man and raised the fang he held in his hand high into the air. He then plummeted the fang into the book as hard as he could, making the ink bleed out of the hole he made.

The memory dropped the wand in pain as a light erupted from his belly and started to spread to his arms as Harry struck the book with the fang again. The memory left in the diary tried to move forward but Harry launched his final attack. Piercing the book from cover to cover, the ink blood poured out and the memory staggered forward as it dissipated in a blast of light.

With a sigh of relief, Harry fell back in pain as he felt the poison spreading through him. He could almost laugh right then; his crappy childhood was finally coming to an end at the one place he actually considered home and felt safe staying at; a place where he could finally be himself and make some friends. Mind you it was still hard with the fact that he was famous and, of course, his new found ability to speak to snakes; but he still managed to make some real friends, friends that he risked life and limb with, twice, against the same man.

Besides if he was going out, he went out with a bang, seriously, how many people could say they fought and won against a few centuries old Basilisk; one who's blood he was now laying in a puddle of; gross.

He stopped his musing when he felt something crawl onto his chest. Lifting his head up to look, he noticed the bloody Phoenix who helped him earlier crying, its tears dripping onto the puncture wounds, healing the flesh and lessening the pain a bit. But there were too many places for the bird to reach in time and they both know it. "Thanks for trying, Fawkes but it looks like it's the end for me. I did put up a good fight though, right?"

The bird nodded its head a few times, letting a few honest tears fall from its eyes as it watched the boy lay back down in the pool of blood. The bird did not want to see such a boy die so young and tried something it had never done before, something it did not know the consequences of. It started its cycle of rebirth and forcibly dragged Harry in with it.

The bright fire burned, engulfing both Fawkes and the blood covered Harry into its embrace. As they turned to ash, Fawkes worried that its plan wouldn't work and would just leave Harry as a pile of dust. But its worries were for nothing as it watched Harry reform out of the ashes with it.

Its young form screeched happily on the now naked boy's chest but noticed something was wrong. He was whole but something was off, really off. The phoenix wished it could be older and fly or teleport to get help but at its fastest it would take two hours to reach that state.

Thankfully that young witch was coming to and she might be able to do something. Okay no, all she did was scream, blush and faint. All they could do is sit and wait.

It took two hours but Fawkes was finally a decent enough size to fly and carry people with him. He picked Harry up using one of his tail feathers and grabbed the girl in one of its claws. The bird used its flaming teleporting ability and appeared inside the schools medical bay, where Madame Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore were waiting.

"Ah, Fawkes," the old man said in a cheerful tone, before taking a grave look at the two children it held. The nurse instantly rushed over to the children, giving each a thorough examination. While Madame Pomfrey examined the two, Dumbledore spoke to his familiar, "I do believe that there were two others that went with them."

The bird just shrugged its wings and kept an eye on the now hospital gown clad Harry. "I do believe it would be wise to pick up Mr. Weasley and Professor Lockheart." The bird gave a weird look to its master, saying that it wanted to stay but it soon let out a defeated sigh and left.

After a few minutes, Madame Pomfrey declared that Ginny would be well after a full nights rest and moved on to Harry. She made a swipe of her wand and the tip glowed a healthy green. The nurse dragged her wand over Harry's body, examining it for any abnormalities. And it took all of six seconds before she let out a yelp of surprise.

"This isn't right. Albus! This isn't right. There is something wrong with Potter!"

The headmaster rushed over with a worried look on his face "Is he ill?"

"No he's perfectly healthy, even in better shape than when he arrived here first year."

"Than, what's the matter?"

"My scan shows that his skin can't even be counted as skin. It's a mesh of tiny scales and his hair is made of incredibly thin feathers. His body temperature is at 43oCelsius and he isn't burning up, his body is reacting as though this is his normal temperature. The scan says barely even human. Something has changed him, at a genetic level."

The headmaster stroked his beard as he tried to control his own emotions. This whole year was filled with shocking events. First his students were being petrified, then someone wrote on the walls, claiming that the 'Heir of Slytherin' had returned meaning the chamber of secrets had been open, after that, one of his students gets taken to the chamber, and now he had this, perfect. "We will have to wait for young Harry to wake up before we can tell what happened; maybe young Miss Weasley has an idea."

Poppy then turned to the bed where a groggy Ginny Weasley had woken up "Where am I?"

"The hospital wing, dear. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I don't know. Everything for last few months is a little hazy. A diary, a big snake, a chamber and….Harry! We've got to help Harry!" Ginny yelled as she sat up to rush back to the chamber to save her own savior.

"Ginny, dear, calm down, Harry is alright, just unconscious. Your parents should be here soon," Madame Pomfrey said before bringing her attention back to the poor boy that was still sound asleep in the hospital bed. "What do we do, Albus?"

"We wait. We wait for our young friend to wake up," Dumbledore said as he walked out of the room to announce the news to a wary school.

A week later Harry Potter finally opened his eyes.

**I hope you guy's liked that, oh and applause for my new Harry Potter beta 'Slytherin's Silver Dragon'. She made sure I did everything right.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I found out one of the stories where I got the idea from "Strength of Brothers" good story. **

**Side note, there are no horcrux here (exept for the journal, he made one and found he didn't really like the results). The connection between Harry and Voldemort was just a twisted form of a bond that got beoken during Fawkes rebirth but Harry kept the Parseltongue. And Voldemort survived because he's a perstant prick who couldn't take being dead and ended up intot that ghost thing he was.**

**Also don't expect quick updates, this kind of just happened.**

**Chapter two: Denial**

Harry had to blink a few times as the light entered his eyes. Everything seemed so much brighter than before. He sat up in his bed looking around at the hospital wing, wondering how he got there. The memories of last night started to flash through his head: the pain, the determination to save his friend's sister, and last was the memory of accepting his death. But here he was, alive and well. Better than well actually. He's never felt this good before!

He looked down at his arm that got bitten by the Basilisk and flexed it. He did this a few times, waiting for the pain that he was sure was going to come. No pain came, just an unfamiliar tightness in his muscles. But this strange tightness wasn'tlike any pain, but like he felt like he could lift something heavy. He got the same response from his other arm as well. In the end, he simply shrugged off the feeling and started to get up.

But as soon as he did, Nurse Poppy entered the room and quickly pushed him back down. "Oh no, you don't, Mister Potter. You are staying right here. You've been asleep for a week and I need to do a check up." Harry started to wonder if their were wards surrounding the bed.

"Oh, come on, Poppy. I feel fine; I just want to walk around a bit."

"No, we still don't know what's wrong with you," Poppy said, looking skeptically at Harry before holding up three fingers. "Harry, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Harry gave her a strange look before answering "Three." The nurse then opened up one of his eyes and looked at it with a magnifying glass "Poppy, what are you doing?"

When the nurse backed up, she asked Harry something he wasn't expecting "Potter, where are your glasses?"

"On my face?" He said unsure as he brought a hand up and started to feel around his face, finding no glasses there. "Bloody hell, what did you do?" Harry asked astonished that he could see so clearly.

"Nothing, part of the reason you are still here," she said as she pulled out her wand and mumbled a quick spell. A red light enveloped Harry's body and stayed there for a good six minutes. After the scan was finished, she pointed her wand towards a piece of parchment and a quill, making the quill start to write down information.

"What was that?" Harry asked as he tried to get a good look at the paper.

"A very advanced diagnostic spell that checks both the physical and the magical ailments of a person's body. It gives your name, age, blood type, height, ect. It's a very useful spells and always accurate. Only downside is the patient has to be awake for it to work properly." Harry gave a small nod and continued to idly watch the quill scribble down even more information.

"So, how's Ginny?" Harry asked, feeling genuinely concerned when the thought suddenly struck him.

"She is fine, and before you ask, so are all the other students who were petrified, including Miss Granger." Harry smiled at the information and he couldn't wait to leave the Hospital Wing so he could go see his friends.

When the quill finally fell limp upon the parchment, Poppy picked the paper up and started to read, with an interested Harry behind her, reading over her shoulder.

Name: Harry James Potter

Gender: Male

Age: 12

Eye color: Green

Height: 1.65 meters

Weight: 44.45 kilos: fat to muscle ratio 10/fat 90/muscle

Species--

It was at this point that Poppy suddenly realized that Harry was looking over her shoulder and quickly moved the paper from view, preventing him from see past 'weight' as she spoke up. "You may be the patient, Potter, but you don't need to see this yet." After that brief statement, she went very quiet as she read the remainder of the sheet. Once she'd read through it for what seemed like the third time to Harry, she stood up and proclaimed that she needed to speak to Professor Dumbledore.

Harry just waved her politely farewell and laid back down on the bed with hands behind his head. For some reason, today Harry felt… he didn't know the word for it, better? Yeah, that's probably it. Better, he felt like he could do so much more than he could before. But he also felt a little awkward, like he wasn't used to something. Kind of like getting into a new pair of pants or shoes.

He shrugged it off, counting it as whatever Poppy did to him. He knew she claimed to have done nothing, but how else could he be rid of those accursed glasses and feel this good?

Harry let out a sigh and wondered when he could go see his friends. He knew no one was going to believe him, that he beat a Basilisk with just a sword, a magical sword of a Founder no less! But still, it would be fun to tell the tale. He may not be an attention grabber, but he is a twelve year old boy and every boy that age loves to tell stories about what they've done. Plus, it was something he had actually earned and could be proud of, unlike his defeat of Voldemort.

If he got fame, he wanted to deserve it by doing something he had done. Not something his parents probably did, and especially not for something he can't even remember.

He was about to let out another sigh when a burst of flame appeared next to him. Harry instinctively raised his arms to shield himself from the heat and light coming off the flames. After the flames died, Harry peeked over his arms and noticed Fawkes perched on the bedpost in front of him.

"Hey, Fawkes, how are you doing?" Harry asked, stroking the bird's feathers while idly wondering if the bird was a boy or a girl.

The bird let out a pleased thrill as Harry played with its feathers. "Any idea when I'm getting out of here?" Harry asked in a slightly bored tone, only to receive a negative-sounding chirp from the phoenix. Shaking his head, Harry couldn't help wishing he could be with his friends in the Great Hall eating whatever meal it was. He didn't even know the current time.

Laying back down, Harry patiently waited for the nurse to come back and clear him to leave, though it wasn't so bad with Fawkes now there singing. The song calmed him a bit and brought him to peace with just about everything. He actually felt relaxed, something he hadn't felt in weeks. Not with everyone claiming him to be the Heir of Slytherin, blaming him for the attacks on his fellow students, and the only piece of evidence they had to support that claim (besides his horrible timing) was his ability to speak to snakes.

It was frustrating, but at least now he wouldn't deal with people calling him a dark lord on the rise. He really didn't get how he could be a hero one year and then the next year he'd be the next big bad guy. The people are too easily swayed by the media. They needed to get their own damn opinions. Not those based off of rumors.

Strangely, the more he thought about this, the more at peace he felt with it. He turned his head and thanked Fawkes for the calming song.

Sitting back on his bed, Harry patiently waited for the door to eventually open. When the door finally did, he quickly sat up and greeted the mournful looking Dumbledore and a concerned looking Poppy. Their expressions instantly set Harry on edge as he wondered what was so bad with him that they both looked like that. Fawkes gave one last look at Harry and then disappeared in a burst of flames.

Dumbledore took a seat at the foot of Harry's bed while Poppy stood idly by, chewing at her lip almost nervously. "Harry," The Headmaster started not entirely sure how to phrase what he was about to say. "What I am about to tell you is no means a joke or a lie. It is of the utmost truth and I need you to brace yourself for what I am about to say. Do you understand?"

Harry took in a breath and gave a nod. If the Headmaster was talking like this, it must be serious.

After seeing Harry's nod, Dumbledore waved his wand in the air and placed up a few silencing and privacy charms. Dumbledore then composed himself and took in a breath "Harry, during Poppy's scans, we discovered several...abnormalities."

"Abnormalities, sir? Am I ill, am I going to die?" Harry asked in a panicked tone.

"No, Harry, nothing like that. If anything, the scan shows you are going to live a full and healthy life."

Harry let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know. But what do those 'abnormalities' mean. Professor?"

Dumbledore looked over at Poppy, hoping she knew a kind or subtle way to tell him. But she shook her head no. Dumbledore cursed silently to himself before he took a final breath and made the inevitable plunge. "Harry, the scans showed you now have things that a normal wizard shouldn't have. Things a human shouldn't have."

"W-what are you saying Professor?" Harry asked cautiously, he had a sudden sinking idea where Dumbledore was going and he did not like it. It felt almost surreal to Harry for a moment. Like witnessing a train wreck, you don't want to watch but are unable to do anything but watch regardless.

"What I'm trying to say is…" Dumbledore braced himself for the final barriers to be broken. He honestly never had to give news quite like this before in all his years, this situation is similar to a freshly-bitten werewolf but the circumstances and the amount of information they had were so very different.

Dumbledore couldn't help but wish he could let Severus tell the boy the news; he was always so blunt about things and would be able to tell him easily. But no, the boy needed to be eased into this information "We aren't sure if you're entirely human anymore."

Harry's eyes widened a little. "What do you mean 'you don't know if I'm human'?" Harry's fists clenched as his voice came out as little more than a mere whisper to convey his question. His breathing was quickly getting more rapid and irregular, while the rest of his body started to shake a bit.

Dumbledore, noticing the signs, raised his hands in a comforting gesture "Harry, calm down."

"Calm down!?" Harry shouted as he quickly stood to his feet "You want me to calm down when you're telling me I'm not human?! That's one of the basic comforts I have in life, and now you go and tell me I'm not even a human anymore!"

"Harry, I never said you weren't human," Dumbledore said in a diplomatic tone, trying to add a comforting tone to it to calm the boy down. "I said 'not entirely'. You could still be part human"

"Could be? Part? Like that matters! I know how wizards treat anything that isn't human, I know how they act around muggles and mugglebornes! They hate them all! And like I didn't have enough to deal with! Being The-Boy-Who-Lived, being a parselmouth. Face it, this wizarding world is filled with bigots and I'm getting hate from both the light and dark side of it for things I can't control and you want to add not being human to the list!" Harry yelled his voice unsteady as he spoke

"Do I even still look like me!? Do I even look human!?!" Harry demanded yet somehow also begged for honest answers for these questions.

Dumbledore waved his wand once again, conjuring a full body mirror for Harry to look in. "See for yourself."

Harry was at first hesitant to stand in front of the mirror. His head was momentarily filled with many vile thoughts and images of what he might look like. Taking a deep breath and gathering his courage, Harry stepped in front of the mirror. He was shocked at what he saw.

He looked human, just not quite himself. Well he looked like himself, just a little different. He was slightly taller and seemed to hold an athlete's build. His eyes were still green, but without his glasses they seemed much more noticeable, looking almost like they were glowing. His hair was still an unruly and comfortingly familiar mess of black but it seemed to have, what did Ginny and Hermione call it, volume. His skin also seemed to carry a healthy shine. All in all, he was shocked and more than pleasantly relieved.

He honestly thought he was going to look like a goblin or something. He wasn't expecting this.

"Physically, you still look human. But there are several changes that we can only guess was some sort of reaction between the combination of Phoenix tears and Basilisk venom mixing together with your and their blood." Dumbledore explained which, combined with now knowing he looked human, calmed Harry down immensely.

They all sat in silence for a bit until Harry finally asked, "What exactly is wrong with me?" Which was followed by another few seconds of silence.

Poppy finally stepped up and answered "We aren't exactly sure, Potter. We can tell you that you are a bit warmer than most temperature wise. And a few of your outside features are not normal, such as your hair."

"My hair?" Harry interjected, now pulling his hand through his hair. It was only after a more serious study of it did he notice the weird soft texture to it. He plucked a hair strand and examined it much more closely. At first it looked like a normal hair, maybe a little thick but normal. But upon closer inspection, he could tell it wasn't hair, it was more like a feather of a crow. He tried to hold back the automatic yelp of surprise but some of it still escaped.

Taking time to compose himself, Harry motioned her to continue. "Internally, we can't be sure how far your change has gone. But from what we can tell is that your body has healed itself of all the malnutrition and abuse you have suffered through. The diagnostic spell also noted a change in your bone structure. It seems they are hollow and lighter now. Other than that, we aren't completely sure how far you changed."

Harry gave a slow nod and kept his eyes on the ground. Dumbledore looked at Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder "Are you going to be alright?"

"I don't know, sir," Harry said, never looking up from the floor.

Dumbledore gave a nod of understanding and patted the boy on the back a few times. As the Headmaster stood up, he placed something on the bed. "Here are some new robes. I am quite sure your others will not fit. If you need more, just see me, Professor McGonagall, or Madam Poppy and we will get you some."

Before leaving, Dumbledore placed a hand on Harry's shoulder "Harry, no one outside this room knows anything about your...condition. You can keep it to yourself, never telling a soul if you so wish."

Harry looked up at his Headmaster "How do I explain my new appearance?"Harry asked some hope lingering in his voice.

Dumbledore smiled, he knew that Harry would choose this path. Honestly, how many wouldn't do the same in his shoes? Thus he had already prepared an excuse for him "Hmm, how about you tell them that Poppy kept you here after seeing that you were malnourished and healed you. And that this is what you would really look like, if you were given a proper diet."

That could work, Harry thought. Most people knew or suspected how he was treated by his relatives or had a vague idea of what he went through from the rumor mill. Of course there were the rumors of him living like a prince all these years too, but hey what can you do. "I like that idea. Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore gave a pleased nod and left the room.

"So, am I allowed to leave?" Harry asked getting a nod from Poppy. "Good. I'm hungry and I would like to see my friends." As Harry said these words, Poppy knew he was already heading towards, if not already in, denial about his situation. He was probably going to be using Dumbledore's suggestion as not only a possible truth, but as a hope that maybe it's true and that what he said earlier was just a cruel joke. But the boy was going to be in for a rude awakening.

After Harry was dressed in his house robes, Poppy had to admit he was going to turn quite a few heads and not because of the lightning bolt scar on his forehead so much anymore. He looked like royalty or some sort of nobility.

"Well, see you soon. Probably within the first week of next year," Harry joked as he left room. Poppy would have laughed at the joke if she didn't suspect that it was probably going to come true.

As Harry walked through the halls of Hogwarts, he noticed that he would over step every once in a while or stumble down the stairs. He didn't have to wonder why, he knew. He wasn't accustomed to his new height and weight, and it was screwing everything up. He quickly realized that he was going to have to learn how to take slightly larger steps than what he was used to. It was going to take a while to get used to it but shouldn't take too long. He was actually getting used to it already, either instinct or magic he guessed.

When he finally reached the Great Hall, it was clearly around lunch time and was either in the beginning or the middle of the meal, judging by sheer amount of students talking and eating inside. Once inside, it didn't take long to find his friends at the Gryffindor table. Ron and Hermione were having another one of their spats with the rest of the table looking on in a combination of amusement and annoyance. The scene made Harry smile as he made his way over and took a seat next to Hermione.

He knew she was safe so he'd hold off on the whole 'are you alright' thing for now but right now he needed food. He was starving, it was like he never ate before.

As he filled his plate with food he noticed the people next him were staring. "What?"

Ever the blunt one, Ron spoke "Who are you?"

Harry tilted his head in confusion. Then it dawned on him. He'd already forgotten that he looked different from the treatment Poppy gave him. No way was he not human anymore. "Harry."

Ron shook his head "No, you're not! Imposter! What did you do with Harry!?" Now most of the hall was staring at the scene.

"Ron, calm down. I've been stuck in the Hospital Wing going under treatment for malnutrition. Apparently this is what I'm supposed to look like." Harry said pulling back his feathers and showed them his scar.

Hermione's jaw dropped and Ron went wide eyed, the rest of the table had similar reactions to this news. After people got over their general shock, Hermione started with the questions, as Harry'd fully expected.

"What do you mean malnutrition, Harry?"

"You heard about how I lived back at my aunt and uncle's. Hell Ron and his brothers tore off the bars from my window." Harry said getting nods of agreements from said Weasleys."So Poppy noticed and fixed me up. Took a week but hey, I feel great!"

Hermione gave him a skeptical look but gave a nod accepting the answer.

Piling some more food on his plate, Harry asked how Hermione was doing. She said she was fine just a bit stiff, empathizing the fact by rolling her shoulders. Harry laughed and took a bite of some of his food. As he chewed, he felt something unfamiliar in his mouth. He chewed a few more bites trying to figure out what the sensation was and discovered it wasn't the food.

Harry felt his eyes widen as he swallowed his mouthful of food in a single gulp. Harry quickly excused and fled to the nearest boy's bathroom. He rushed up to the mirror above the sink and opened his mouth wide.

Looking inside his mouth, everything looked normal except for one thing, well more like two things. Two long teeth looking like they were folded on the inside of mouth and were being forced to stay at the roof. They reached from his canine to stopping halfway through his third molar.

And what shocked him more is that when he wondered what they were or if they could come out, they unfolded. Revealing what looked like to him as fangs, making him think of himself as some sort of serpentine vampire.

As he stared in shock of his newfound fangs, a drop of black liquid fell of one of them and landed on the sink, making a sizzling sound and started to burn through the stone sink.

Seeing this, Harry instantly closed his mouth with his hand and fell to his knees in shock. It finally begun to truly sink in and...it hurt so bad. It hurt to know that Dumbledore wasn't lying. It hurt to know that he had fallen for his own ruse (however briefly it had been). The ruse he was suppose to use so people didn't find out. And it hurt the worst when he asked himself out loud

"Am I even human anymore?"

**Um, so good, bad, better than last chapter? Tell me what you think. Oh and props to '****Tellemicus Sundance'. He was an irreplaceable help in making this chapter better and improving the overall story. He did change some of the wording and added some more lines that took forever to try and fit into my style but hey he fixed everything and made it. You should have seen the first draft.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, Sorry about that Poppy/ Madem Promfrey thing. I have no real excuse besides Poppy is more fun to write then Promfrey. Also to answer one review on how Promfrey told Dumbledore first instead of Harry, he's a minor nuf said.**

**Also everyone who wants the relationship to start sooner shut up and wait. The seeds for Tonks start in third year and fourth year Fleur shows up. So shut up, wait and enjoy the dang story. I plan on making it a decent size so you get all that bit of romance you want.**

**And with Dumbles and Harry not yelling at him for knowing about his abuse, two things, One: He was still shell shocked, Two: He is still a naive twelve year old, for now. There was a third thing but I forgot.**

**Chapter three: Welcome Home Potter**

The week before the train ride back to London left, Harry read almost every book on werewolves and turned vampires there was in the library at Hogwarts. They were all informative. Telling of the painful process of the change, plus the pros and cons the new forms gave. But none of those books told him how he should feel or react to this information. He thought that reading about others that went from human to something more (or less in some people's opinions) he would know how to feel but he doesn't.

He was still confused, he was still worried, and he still didn't know how to tell his friends. He was pretty sure he knew how Hermione would act: ask a few questions out of curiosity and then become that comforting friend that would do everything in her power to help you. But the problem was that Harry didn't feel ready for the questions. Neville would just treat him as if nothing happened, he would see Harry as Harry no matter what happens. Ron, on the other hand, he had no clue. He's been Harry's best mate since first year. But when Harry's rep took a blow, Ron became wary of him and his jealous habits had many times put a wedge in their friendship. He wanted to stay friends with him since he was his first friend, next to Hedwig, and that says something.

The bright side of reading all those books was that he found them to be a good distraction. But when he ran out of books on werewolves and vampires, he had to move onto a new subject. He decided he would read up on charms and transfiguration, which in turn lead him to the world of dueling.

He read the strategies, the common spells used, and the rules for each country. It was all so very interesting and it helped dull the panic and worry that went through him. But curiously it increased it in his friends. They usually gave him worried glances or asked if he was feeling alright. To which he would say he was fine and they would just stare at him in disbelief. Their looks of pity and worry turned him even more solitary as he didn't want to feel those kinds of gazes on him.

Harry quickly took to reading in the trees in the court yard. It had at first surprised him when he realized that he enjoyed being perched on a high branch. It brought him a sense of peace. It seemed like one of the habits he's developed since he became… whatever he was.

Another one was something that kind of creeped him out; he started to lick his lips. Doesn't sound that bad but when you can literally taste the smells in the air, it's kind of freaky. Imagine being able to taste when your best friend comes by to check on you or when a brat of a Slythern comes to rile you up. Oh yes, a very, very strange feeling.

But the reading had to eventually come to an end as they took their seats on the Hogwarts Express. An uncomfortable silence fell upon the three friends as Harry gazed out the window. His muggleborn friend looked at him with unease while the red head just gave an annoyed glare.

Harry ignored both stares and quickly became entrenched in his thoughts of how he was going to explain this to his aunt and uncle. Looking this different after only ten months away was going to piss them off. And Lord knows that they'd immediately deny that they malnourished him, or something like they gave him more than enough food. Then they'll go onto say he just used magic to change his looks because he was jealous of their 'Dudleykins', yeah right.

Next, they'd probably strip him of any and all belongs he had and toss him in the cupboard. Followed by changing his two-year-old bedroom into a new rec room for Dudley. Well after they pulled out a list of chores for him to do at least.

He kind of wanted to laugh when he thought of all the times his relatives called him a 'freak'. How right they were…now. He's a freak, a freak that wasn't even sure what to call what he had become. To that end, he felt dangerous and abnormal. And why shouldn't he? He now had venom that was almost as lethal as a Basilisk (according to the test done by Dumbledore) hidden in his mouth with his new fangs, feathers for hair, and Merlin knew what else is new on him.

"Harry," Instantly brought out of his thoughts by the call of his name, he turned his head and saw Hermione holding a piece of paper out towards him.

"I know there's something wrong with you, I don't know what but there is. And if you ever want to talk about it, this is my address and number. Just call or come over and I'll listen." Harry looked at the piece of paper for a moment and gave Hermione a genuine smile as he took the information from her hands.

"Thanks 'Mione," Harry said, not guaranteeing that he was but kept it as a possibility nevertheless.

Ron rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. Harry paid it no mind as this is how Ron usually acted when Harry had stuff on his mind or when something changed for him. But he always came around, sooner or later.

"So," Hermione said trying to break the uncomfortable silence again "What electives did you pick for next year."

"Magical Beasts and Runes."

"Runes!" Ron nearly shouted "I thought we were going to go with the easy-pass Divination."

Harry just shrugged his shoulders "I don't like the fact that the class says that the future is written in stone. I think the future is something we have to build for ourselves. Besides, it seemed pretty useless." Hermione nodded her head in agreement, that was the one class she didn't want to take but took because of her friends.

"But it's an easy pass!" Ron insisted, still not quite able to wrap his mind around Harry's logic.

"An easy pass isn't going to help me get by, Ron." Harry said. Showing off some of the knowledge he absorbed in the last week, Harry continued, "Besides, I read in one of the dueling books about how some wizards used runes in a fight and it seemed pretty cool."

"Ugh, reading."

Again Harry shrugged "We're wizards, it's one of the few ways we learn how to use magic." A moment later Harry realized he'd finally found some much-needed closure with that statement; he still counts himself as a wizard.

Ron seemed uncertain but gave a nod of acceptance.

A few hours and several awkward conversations later, they arrived at Platform 9 ¾. His friends gave their quick goodbyes as they went to see their families, while he went to find the people he had to call his relatives. He spotted them by the entrance to the station. They're not that hard to spot; just look for a giraffe, an elephant and a manatee, and you got them.

He pushed his trolley towards the zoo of a family and gave them a weak greeting. All the Dursleys just stared at him like an oddity. They did it for a few seconds before Dudley asked "Who are you?"

Despite getting somewhat use to that question from back at Hogwarts, Harry took in a breath and sighed "Harry." He even lifted his feathers to show the scar.

"Boy!" Vernon snapped in a quiet yell as his face started to turn that strange purple color "Whatever you did to yourself, change it now!"

Harry looked bored and uncaring as he answered, "I can't, uncle. Because this is what I would've looked like if I was given an appropriate diet. At least that's what Madam Pompfrey said when she gave me the anti-malnutrition treatment."

Petunia put on a weird-looking scowl with her lips pressed tight against each other. "We gave you more than enough food!" Called it "You just did this to yourself because you were jealous of Dudley's good looks." Called it again.

"Honestly, Aunt Petunia, I didn't want this either but I got hurt and had to stay in the hospital wing for a while. She decided while I was there that she'd treat me." That was partly true at least.

The Dursleys still looked ticked but eventually gave reluctant murmurs of acceptance. They led him to the car and waited for him to pack himself in. Harry hid his wand in his sock and brought Hedwig's cage into the car with him, placing her on his lap.

Harry accidentally licked his lips as he settled into his seat. Aside from Hedwig and her cage, he got a very nasty smell in his mouth. The whole car smelled greasy from constant trips to fast food joints. Petunia had some sort of cheap perfume on. Dudley was trying to conceal the smell of cigarettes with even cheaper cologne. But Vernon was the worse, smelling of greasy sweet and old food.

A very unpleasant experience, he made a note to himself not to lick his lips while around this family, especially when in an enclosed space. At least Hedwig managed to make the area smell a bit better. The smell of feathers was so much better than that family.

The ride back to #4 Private Drive, which didn't end quickly enough in Harry's opinion, was just as silent and uncomfortable as usual. The only time anyone talked to him was when Uncle Vernon told him there would be chores waiting for him when they got home.

Finally arriving at the house, Vernon took Harry's trunk and shoved it in his old cupboard. "No magic while you're here, boy. Now put that bloody bird in your room and get back down here to do the chores." Vernon demanded pointing up to the small bedroom upstairs.

Harry gave a weak nod and went up the stairs. He placed Hedwig's cage on the desk and stroked his familiar's feathers fondly.

After petting her, Harry noticed her near-pleading look that went towards the window. "Okay girl, just come find me when you're done." Harry said, opening the cage and letting her out the window.

After watching her fly away, Harry went downstairs to get his chores from Vernon and get it over with. The list surprisingly wasn't that long, just the usual wash and vacuum, make dinner and so on. Oh but there was also a part on the list about him reattaching the bars on the window that he and his 'delinquent friends' tore out of his wall.

Two and a half hours later, Harry was done and had an hour to kill before he had to make that family their meal. So he decided to walk around the neighborhood and maybe visit the park nearby.

The sight of the neighborhood gave Harry mixed feelings. First there was nostalgia since he was raised here, second was disgust of how every house was trying to fall in the norm while trying to outdo each other at every turn, and last was a feeling close to hate from all the 'Harry Hunts' that had taken place here without anyone helping him.

And why did no one help a poor seven year old while they watched other people's kids, and sometimes even their own, kick dirt in his eyes? Because the Dursleys spread rumors about him. Horrible rumors that would make it seem like every time he got picked on were fights started by him.

Rumors that were obviously still in effect since some of the neighbors were giving him strange looks. Yet they didn't seem to be the same as before, more like a look of trying to figure out who somebody was. He guessed some recognized him by the evil eye he was getting. But at the same time, he was getting a strange reaction from the females of the neighborhood; they were staring at him like they wanted him.

A look he didn't want to feel, considering how most of those same girls treated him when he was younger.

When he made it to the park, he made a beeline to the sturdiest looking tree he could find and jumped up onto a strong branch. As he reclined against the trunk, Harry couldn't help but idly wonder if this new habit was from the bird or snake now in him.

This line of thought soon had him lying back, thinking of what he now was and what it meant. He noticed the several bright sides, better sight, taller, in better shape, a deadly weapon lying in wait in his mouth only active when he wished it, and several other possible abilities lying in wait. All in all, impressive and cool.

Down sides, he didn't know if he counted as human anymore. And knowing the Ministry, they would instantly classify him as a Dark creature out of a mix of fear, ignorance and bigotry, making him less than a citizen or a person in the eye of British society. There was the chance that when the Slytherins found out, they would start a proposition to get him kicked out of school, which many parents would go with thinking that he was dangerous. Then there was the chance of his friends rejecting him, he knew Hermione and Neville wouldn't but everyone else he wasn't so sure of.

As he thought of the pros and cons of his situation, he started to whistle a random tune to relax himself. As he fell into his thoughts and tune, Hedwig landed on his shoulder and rubbed her head against his cheek. Harry didn't stop whistling as he caressed his familiar's feathers fondly.

Hedwig hooted fondly to Harry's tune and stroking. After a few more minutes of this, Harry reluctantly jumped down from the tree and raised his arm so Hedwig could land back on him. He noticed a few white feathers fell off her as she landed. Kind of pretty.

He leveled his shoulder and let Hedwig move to his shoulder and the two of them walked back to number four. When he arrived at the front step he allowed Hedwig to jump off his shoulder telling her he'd keep his window open.

After about forty minutes of preparing the overfed family their dinner, Harry went up to his room knowing he wasn't welcomed at that table.

He sat on his bed, back against the wall with his arms behind his head. His mind lost in his thoughts once again. This time not about his new condition but how stupid he was not to get something to eat while he was down there.

His mind started to wander on things he could eat. He had a few pounds in his pocket and a few hundred galleons shoved the mockskin pouch Hagrid gave him first year, handy as hell, so maybe if he sneaks out he could get something. Maybe he could skip to a pizza shop, pepperoni was so good. Or head to Three Broomsticks and pick something up. No, what was that place that all the Muggleborns at school kept on talking about, McDonalds? It was suppose to be cheap and taste amazing. Plus Harry was sure he saw one a few blocks away from the neighborhood.

Yeah, he should go there.

He was about to stand up and try to sneak out the window but a hot sensation in his chest stopped him. It wasn't painful, comforting actually and then the room seemed to disappear in a bout of flames and was replaced by a parking lot with a big M sign in the middle. The instant after he regained his senses, he had to forcefully restrain himself from yelling in surprise and panic.

"How the hell did I get here?" Harry asked himself out loud. Harry looked around the area panicked, momentarily forgetting his hunger. He was extremely thankful that he seemed to have arrived hidden between two cars and that no one seemed to have noticed him.

It took several long, deep lungfuls of air before he was calm enough to think rationally. Maybe this was that apparition thing Hermione talked about. No, this was fire, apparition didn't have fire, but Fawkes did when it teleported in the Hospital Wing.

After a few seconds to process this possibility, Harry grinned widely. This was cool! Most definitely a big perk that came out of all this. He was going to have learn how to control this later. But for right now, there was a burger was calling him.

After devouring the greasy goodness, Harry walked out of the building and looked around, unfortunately there were too many non-magical around to try this. He had to find another place to try this, somewhere faraway and secluded, like a forest or that abandon factory on Miller Road.

The old shoe factory was probably best to practice at. A decent size, a few obstacles for when he actually got the hang of it, and it was close by. As soon as he set his mind on the factory he felt the heat in his chest again.

"Crap." He mumbled out loud as the parking lot melted away in flames and a broken down factory replaced it. "I did not mean to do that in front of a bunch of muggles." Harry said pinching the bridge of his nose. "I really need to learn how to use this."

Harry thought of how he did it. Both times he had a set idea of where he wanted to go and then poof, fire, and here he was. It was practically like jumping, just a little more fiery. Looking around, he spotted a staircase in front of him and focused on the top stair. He visualized himself being there and he concentrated.

When he felt the hot sensation in his chest again, he looked down and watched as flames quickly began licking around his chest and trailing over the rest of his body. An instant later, he was standing upon the top stair. Momentary elation had Harry throwing his arms up and whooping his hands in victory…before he lost his balance and found himself gracelessly tumbling down the stairs

"Need to work on which way I'm facing" Harry mumbled as he stood back up and tried again.

For the next two weeks he practiced. He'd found that distance, mid-air, and direction were all important, and he was steadily getting better at it. It was a quick and easy means of transportation, but after either a prolonged or consecutive usage, he got winded. Each time he teleported, it was like jumping and if you jump about fifty times you start to get tired. The jump from number four to Diagon Alley was especially exhausting. It seemed the farther he went the more it took out of him. But he did manage to get a few good books out of that particular trip.

Harry had every intention of calling Hermione earlier in the week and to tell her now that he was had become a bit more comfortable with whatever he had become. At least enough to tell somebody, still not all that happy about it but could talk about it. Unfortunately those hopes were dashed when Ron, that idiot, tried calling and ended up yelling Petunia's ear off. Which lead to Harry being banned from the phone and thus now unable to call Hermione.

And to make his life worse, Dudley's Aunt Marge came over for a belated Birthday celebration. She loved treating Harry like dirt, which he could live with, she yelled at him to work and do chores, again something he could live with. But, that night she did something he simply could not forgive.

"…It's all to do with blood. Bad blood." Harry's fist gripped the counter hard, making a few tiles crack "What was it the boy's father did, Petunia?"

"Um, he didn't work, he was unemployed." Petunia said with a bit of nervousness in her voice.

"And a drunk too, no doubt."

"That's a lie" Harry said with an overlap of two other sounds.

"What did you say?" Marge hissed.

"My father wasn't a drunk!" As Harry yelled, a strong wind entered the room, lifting his feathers and clothes while the lights of the house started to flicker. And everyone gasped as the glass in Marge's hand exploded.

"Don't worry, I have a very strong grip."

The Dursley's nodded and turned to Harry with a disgusted look "I think it's time you went to bed."

"Quiet, Vernon. You," She pointed to Harry and then the mess. Harry reluctantly grabbed a dish cloth and made his way over to the mess.

As soon as Harry was near the table, Marge continued her rant "Actually, it has nothing to do with the father. It's has to do with the mother. They see it all the time with dogs. 'If there is something wrong with the bitch, there is something wrong with the pup.'"

That did it "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" the dog Marge brought with her started to whine and run under the table. The wind picked up again and the lights started overflow with electricity.

The fat relative put a smug grin on her face as she pointed her finger at him. "Now you listen to me…"

"No, you listen to me!" Harry shouted making the room rise a few degrees. "My father wasn't unemployed or a drunk and there was nothing wrong with my mother! They were both cops! And they died protecting me from some sick terrorist!" Harry's voice mingled with two other sounds as he yelled louder, something like a hiss and a bird's shriek.

"Boy, calm down!" Vernon yelled, frightened for his sister's well being.

Harry didn't calm down; he stormed out of the room, letting his anger destroy all the glass in room as he passed. Harry moved towards the cupboard and ripped the door clean off its hinges with his bare hands. A second later, he was pulling his trunk out and moving towards the door.

"Where are you going, boy?!" Vernon said as he rushed out of the kitchen.

"The hell away from here!" Harry yelled back and willed his fire to take him as far away from here as possible. He shot one last glare at his uncle before the flame completely engulfed him and dragged him away.

Harry and his fire traveled for about thirty seconds before he started to feel tired, a few seconds later and he was feeling utterly exhausted. He felt his fire dying out prematurely and watched it vanish, leaving him hanging in mid-air, making him slam into a brick wall.

Harry unsteadily brought himself to his feet. His breath seemed ragged and his stomach was urging him to puke. He resisted the urge and picked up his trunk.

As he picked himself and his trunk up, he looked around but did not recognize the dirty alley way. He walked out into the streets and saw a wizardly market place, one so much different from any other he had ever seen.

Wizards walked the busy street conversing with varying species. A centaur was bartering with a goblin over some trinket. Large television screens were displayed in front of some stores advertizing products. Some of the shops stretched in height to reach near skyscraper size. And unlike Diagon Alley, this stretched into other streets and directions. He even saw another McDonalds, with a Starbucks right next to it, and a broom shop on the other side.

Harry gave the scene one last look before he muttered the first thing that came to his mind. "Where the hell am I?"

**Sorry if this chapter was a bit slow but I needed to build on something, plus Harry needs to pick something up.**

**And a small note about bashings, I only give them to charters who piss me off. Not telling who, pretty sure you guys can eventually figure it out.**


	4. Chapter 4

**(For anybody complaining (this is a joke and I don't need another review about my 'arrogant little lines') about my view points on magical USA look at bottom where I put my sociology and psychology classes to use and put up a logical theory that works, I think.)**

**Anyway, thanks for pointing out my faults, it really helps. Truly it does. I love criticism and complements, helps with the story. I liked one review so much I made the dude my beta after the first chapter because he told me how it is and gave ideas. But never mind that, on to the story.**

**Chapter four: Jay Bickley**

His bones ached, his head was spinning, and he felt like he was about to puke. He pretty much felt that he just got back from a 'Harry Hunt'. And taking in lungfuls of the dirty alleyway's air wasn't helping much either. It took a few minutes for him to even get steady enough to actually move.

As he fought to regain his balance, Harry slowly turned his head a few times to take in the sights of the scene. There was no real sky, it actually reminded him of the charmed ceiling of Hogwarts. And if you looked close enough, you could see the rocky earth of the ceiling. A few of the taller buildings almost reached the charmed sky, while others struck right through the ceiling and seemed to lead to whatever was above.

The streets were filled with so many different species of magical creatures. Some he knew, but most of the others he didn't. Like the man with that red face and long nose who also had jet black wings coming out of his back; a woman with fox-like ears and three tails following behind her; a small monkey wearing street clothes talking to some blue skinned woman. And the list just continued on, sure humans dominated the street, but it seemed one out of every five wasn't human. It was kind of odd.

Finally having recovered enough, Harry pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he dragged himself and his trunk into the busy street, the wheels of the trunk occasionally skipping from loose gravel. Despite himself, Harry's eyes were darting everywhere as he tried to assess where he was.

The people all around him were speaking English, so that was a positive. But most, if not all, of them carried a different accent than him. And for some reason, muggle devices and technologies were seemingly intertwined with magic like it was how it always was. He licked his lips, the whole area tasted strongly of pretzels and hot dogs.

As he passed one of the shops, he couldn't help but bob his head a bit to music he never heard before. It was rough and brutal yet sounded so smooth. Instead of strings dominating the song, drums and a light tapping ruled. The vocalist didn't really sing, it was more like he was speaking to you, telling a story in poem form while he went along with the sound.

He was constantly turning and looking in all directions as he tried to take in all the sights of the clearly underground magical city. It was so strange, so different from what he was used to. Yet it was also a very welcomed change.

A few people pushed and shoved him out of the way when he seemed to be, according to them, moving too slow. But most would just walk around him like he wasn't even there.

He gave up looking any type of landmark to tell him where he was and went to the closest shop to ask where the hell he was and if he was even in England anymore, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't.

The shop he entered was a little coffee shop, a quaint little place that had a homey atmosphere. He moved up to the counter where he saw another blue skinned woman leaning over the counter blowing a bubble with a bored expression on her face.

"Um, excuse me." Harry spoke up startling the girl and making her bubble pop.

"Huh, what? Oh, uh, how can I help you today, sir?" She said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, uh, I was just wonder where I was…." He trailed off not really knowing how to explain this.

"Susie's Tea Shop."

"Not the shop, more what city am I in. I kind of just ended up here."

She gave him a weird look like she was saying 'you got to be kidding me' "You're in New York."

'New York?! Oh, you got to be kidding! ...Well, I did think to get very far away and this is far away,' Harry thought to himself "Thank you." He said aloud as he turned to leave, lost in his thoughts.

He was very far away from home and had no clue about the surrounding area. The best thing to do right now would be to find a place to stay and drop off his trunk so he could go explore, but do businesses here accept galleons? It was a different country after all. And where is he going to find a place to stay?

- Hide quoted text -

He silently cursed himself for not asking the store clerk any of this while he was in there, but what was done was done.

His thoughts then moved to Hedwig, he left her back in England and he wondered if she would be alright alone for a while. Because he was definitely not up for another teleport like that for a good while yet, his body was going to ache for a long time to come.

Lost in his thoughts Harry bumped into someone's back, a very hard, brick wall-like back. "Ooof, sorry." He said to the man as he turned around to face Harry.

Harry couldn't see the details of his face due to the shadow of his hat and the hood of his baggy black hoody. But what he could see was his eyes; very sharp, very dangerous brown eyes that looked almost feral.

The man didn't say anything for a few moments just stared Harry in the eyes "You have good eyes." The man's voice was strong and carried a strange accent, like some of his letters came from a man of a different nationality but his swagger spoke like he was a true New Yorker.

Harry let a confused expression cross his face "Uh, thanks. Apparently my mom had the same shade for her…"

"I'm not talking about the color or the shape," the man said waving his hand dismissively. "I'm talking about the look behind them. You've seen death and you are pretty damn sure you're going to see it again."

Harry gaped slightly and wondered how the hell you could tell something like that.

The hooded man gave a wild smile and ruffled Harry's feathers "Heh, I think I like you kid! By the way, you got some soft hair. Using some of that girly conditioner, are yah?"

Harry opened his mouth to say something but the man started talking again and grabbed Harry's trunk, pulling him along with him "Well it don't matter, I don't judge. Now come on, I want to check something."

Once again, Harry tried to open his mouth to say something but he decided against it. Maybe this guy can tell him a few things he needed to know. And if he's someone dangerous, he could probably manage a short teleport to get away.

"And here we are!" The man practically shouted as he kicked the door of the brick building open dragging Harry in with him.

Harry was very surprised to see that the building the strange man brought him into was a bookstore, a very large bookstore, one that would put some libraries to shame.

"Why are we here?" Harry asked as the man dragged him over to the counter. The man started to look for the clerk but didn't see any.

"Give me a minute, kid," he said as he jumped over the counter and entered the door on the back wall.

"Can he do that?" Harry asked himself before he started to hear the sounds of surprise followed by some yelling and a few bangs. "Apparently not."

He started to think it might be smart to leave but before he could move a shocked looking clerk and the hooded man came out from the back holding a thin white book that was marked M.I.M. in gold letters. "Oi, kid, get over here."

Harry cautiously did so, but not before he took a look at the clerk next to him. He looked nervous sure, but it wasn't like fear nervous. It actually kind of reminded him of how some people reacted to him on his first trip to Diagon Alley.

"Okay kid; channel some of your magic into this book." He instructed handing Harry the book, only to have Harry look at it confused.

"How do I channel my magic?"

The hooded man slapped his face in frustration, mumbling something before asking Harry where he was from.

"Surrey...Britain, sir."

"That explains it. Brits don't teach much more than how to use a wand." The clerk next to him nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, let's see. How to explain this."

The man stroked his chin a few times before he spoke again "Okay, you know that feeling when you touch your wand and use magic to do a spell?" Harry nodded his head "Just do that to the book. Think of it as your wand and channel your magic into it like your preparing a spell."

Harry gave an unsure nod but focused his magic into the book, imagining it was his wand, and muttering the word 'Lumos'. For a few seconds, nothing happened and he was going to question what he did wrong but stopped when he noticed the book started to change.

At first it just went from a book that looked barely twenty pages to one that would give some of his school textbooks a run for their money. Then the color of the book started to bleed from a pale white to a deep crimson with a black tribal moon and white tribal sun orbiting around each other. And last the letters M.I.M were more pronounced and the meaning of each letter laid next to it.

Muggle Inspired Magic.

"Oh, I'm really going to like you, Decchi," the man said with another wild smile. "Your magic must be strong if can unlock that much of the book. And you also got a nice mind set if you got it this far."

"Decchi?" Harry asked, ignoring the comments on his magic and book parts. That word would just irk him because he didn't know what it meant.

"It means 'apprentice.' I had a master in Japan once who called me it, and it kinda stuck." The hooded man said waving his hand as if it didn't matter.

It took Harry's mind a while to process the information just given to him. "Wait! Apprentice!? Don't I get a say in this!?"

The clerk behind the counter looked dumbfounded, "Kid, I really suggest you take up this offer. Do you have any clue who this is?"

"No."

The clerk looked like he was about to have a heart attack at Harry's naivety "This is Jay Bickley. War Mage, top class spell inventor, Master Duelist, Poet-Warrior, Master of American Magic, the list goes on. And he took all he learned and made it into something that makes him one of the top mercs in the world. You get taught by him, there is no telling how strong you can get."

The man in question looked like he couldn't care less, but none the less he was enjoying the praise.

"Uh, sorry but I'm kind of going through some stuff right now. Plus I got to get back to Britain. School starts in two months and…"

"Bah excuses. I can't train you all year round anyway, got jobs to do. I'll arrange for you to get back to Britain in two weeks. But in those two weeks, you're mine. Got it?" The man's voice left no room for argument and made Harry cave where he stood. "Good," The man stretched his hand over the counter "Name's Jay Bickley, but you will be calling me 'sensei', got it, Decchi?"

"Yes...Sensei. My name is Harry Potter." Harry said shaking the man's hand.

"...Could swear I heard that name somewhere before...oh well," the man jumped back over the counter and slammed a few American dollar bills on the counter for the clerk. "Okay, Decchi. Let's go. For the two weeks, you'll stay at my place." Harry would later swear on a stack of bibles he heard an evil laugh coming from his new sensei as he dragged him out of the store.

Jay dragged Harry about two blocks away, ignoring all complaints from the black haired boy, and stopped in a small booth that reminded Harry of a bus stop. "This is always a bitch." The man mumbled.

And before Harry could ask what he meant he felt is body being compressed and pushed through a tiny little space. When the sensation stopped, he felt like he was going to puke...again.

Harry almost fell over when Jay's large hand slapped him on the back "Good job Decchi, most people puke after their first trip."

Harry mumbled he almost did and then noticed he was no longer in the bustling underground city. Instead he was in front of a rather old but well kept apartment building in what he guessed was non-magical New York City, because of the actual sky overhead. Though in general it looked like a rather run down part of town. All the buildings looked uninhabitable and barely anything other than rats were visible on the deserted the street.

The stones that made up the building in front of him were yellow with age and thick vines grew out of cracks in the wall but besides that it looked rather modern. New windows, freshly painted doors and frames, and even a satellite dish on the roof.

"Like it? I own the whole damn thing." Harry looked from his new teacher to the ten story building and back.

"Why would you need a ten story building?"

Jay just shrugged "I got shit to do that needs some space. Besides, the others need a place to crash"

"Others?" Harry asked as they headed up the first few steps to the building. Why did that word worry him?

Jay started to search his pockets for something "Just my two baby brothers and my two best friends." He stopped his search when he found a set of key's in his left back pocket "Fair warning. Don't piss Lucy off. She is scary as hell. Especially at that time of the month."

Jay opened the door and ushered Harry in, revealing a hotel-like set up on the first floor. It had a fancy red carpet and there was a lot of golden trimming tracing the furniture. Fake light bulb candles lit the room from all corners. All that was needed was a desk and you got yourself the first floor of some fancy inn, though it did seem to have a small office in the back.

While Harry was inspecting the room, Jay made a semi-disgusted look. "I hate this floor, too fancy, but Lucy said it would make the clients think more of us or some shit like that." He shook his head and made his way to one of the three elevators on the right wall. "Come on, Decchi. We've got to set you up in your room."

Harry made a mild jog over to the elevator, still partly wondering how the hell he ended up here. He had some doubts and uncertainties about this guy, but at the moment it felt like he could trust him...if only just a little.

He watched as the elevator reached the fourth floor and he could already hear the music from the other side of the door. It seemed similar to what he had heard back in the city, but slightly more harsh and feral.

"Damn it. I told Michael not to blast that fucking music so loud! I know it sounds good but still." Jay mumbled as he got out the elevator and started to slam his foot on the left side door. "Turn that shit down!"

Harry only then just realized something important: his new teacher has the worst mouth he's ever heard. Though from behind the blasting door he could hear also faint 'screw you' yelled back.

"Shitty little brother," Jay mumbled before he turned to Harry. "Okay, this floor is living quarters, don't ask what the others are until I tell you what they are and don't go anywhere near the second floor. Got it?" Harry nodded his head "Okay, anyway. There are eight rooms on this floor. All have their own bathroom but we all share the same kitchen in the middle of the floor." He pointed down the hall revealing a rather large looking kitchen with three hallways stemming off it.

"You can pick whatever room you want, just not any of the ones with a mark on the door." Harry nodded his head again. "Good. Now I need a nap. See you later, Decchi" And with that the still-hooded man went through the kitchen and into the hallway on the right.

Harry stayed in the hallway for a few moments, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the various events that had took place thus far today. After a few moment, he finally collected himself and moved to the hallway across from him and found an open room on the right.

The room was bare and white with only a lonely bed and dresser to decorate it. Harry placed his trunk at the foot of the bare bed and laid down.

He laid there and thought of what happened in the last few hours and one thought crossed his mind "What the hell have I gotten myself into."

**So what? Good? Bad? Disappointed? Approve? Please tell.**

**(Build behind idea of Magical America)**

**America was and is seen as the land of opportunity, a place where people who had hard lives can come and try to make something out of themselves. And I think Muggleborns fit that description on the head.**

**How I see it is that Muggleborns would come to America in vast amounts building the foundation to the country along with a few of the Pureblood coming to make more money. So the country would be more accepting of the muggleborn citizens. And as time went on and more and more magical people came from non magical families they brought part of their old lives with them and slowly integrated it with magical society, to the point that wizard in America use tech almost as much as Muggles. **

**Then you have the influence of magic from other countries coming into play. How other countries and continents pulled off their magic mixed with the European making American magic. I could explain right now what American Magic is but then I would have to explain my idea for the countries that actually have different magic.**

**I also think wizards who used experimental or dark magic would flee from where they were to America hoping to be able to continue their practice in peace. Which would lead to Americans just seeing magic as magic, not light or dark.**

**Sentient magical creatures would see America the same way as the Muggleborns and would also become a major part of the founding making them more accepted in the country. Not saying there isn't predigest in the country just more hidden due to the bigots being greatly outnumbered.**

**Personality of the country, I'm not really sure. I'm American so I can't be biased and can only put in my view point on the country as a whole. Headstrong, violent, lazy, kind hearted, vicious when attack or when friend is attacked, competitive and inventive. Other people not from my country please tell me if I got the general gist of the country.**

**Anyway, I think that makes sense, kind of, I think, right?**


	5. Chapter 5

**First off, I forgot to put a un in front of my biased, I meant to say I can't give an accurate worldwide view of America because I'm American, sorry if that caused any confusion**

**Then the meeting between Jay and Harry is similar and was based off of how I met my karate instructor. He noticed the scars on my knuckles from my past styles and asked me to join his class, we spared and he utterly kicked my ass. But I put up a damn good fight. Unfortunately I have been unable to train in any of my styles as of late due to college and late nights at the pizza shop I work at.**

**Next, if the description of America offended anyone from another country, sorry I guess. I'm a proud American and I still believe even with all the shit we've been going through we are still a land of opportunity. **

**Also to anyone who thinks I'm saying American magic is stronger you're wrong. Think of it like comparing MMA to Boxing. The MMA fighter made a strong style basing it off of multiple sources but a Boxer could still fight on even grounds with him or even beat him. Make sense?**

**And yes people you can use the rebirth idea as long as you credit properly.**

**One more thing. THIS IS NOT A HAREM OR SMUT FIC! If you're looking for that go somewhere else, because I ain't doing it. I'm only doing this ship because it seemed difficult and fun, it's a three way love, all around love not focused on Harry. Sorry bout that but it needed to be said.**

**p.s.: To those who I sent a reply to, don't count on it often or happening a lot, most things will be answered in these beginning notes.**

**Chapter five: Oh, how much you don't know**

After letting his thoughts settle he fell into a blissful sleep but he was disturbed by a large amount of yelling and screaming from what he could only assume was a girl's voice by the pitch.

Out of curiosity he got off the bed and made his way to the door. And as soon as he opened it he heard the hammer of a lecture his new 'Sensei' was getting "…And not only did you forget to get the damn groceries but you practically kidnapped a kid because you 'liked the look in his eyes' and thought he'd make a good student! Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?! How can you tell anything just by looking someone in the eyes?! I mean, GOD! It sounds ridicules even for magic."

Harry almost laughed as he made his way to the one-sided yelling match in the kitchen. He was actually wondering the same thing about the eyes part but hey a place to stay that is far, far away from his 'Family'.

Harry watched in amusement as a black haired girl yelled at who he guessed was his Sensei. He couldn't see either's face due to the girl having her back turned to him and was standing in front of the slumped figure "And what about his family? I bet his poor mother is worried sick about him right now because some retard decided it was a good idea to just randomly pick him off the streets and claim him to be his new 'Decchi' and I'm pretty sure your using that word wrong!"

"Actually," Harry started gaining the two occupants attention "my parents have been dead for a while and I just ran away from my uncle's. Somehow I ended up in New York, how? I have no clue but I'm willing to learn new stuff, I guess."

"See that Lucy? All's well that ends well!" The slumped figure at the table said as he stood up and gave Harry his first real look at his new teacher.

He stood a good six feet and had caramel colored skin. His was obviously in good shape by the muscles that showed through his white tang top. His black hair was shaved short but kept some curls. He had a strong square jaw and a pair of square glasses he didn't notice before held low on his nose. And if he had to guess age he would put him in his mid to late twenties."

"He's going to make a great student!" He said revealing his wild smile as he placed an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"I suppose." The girl said hesitantly before holding her hand out to Harry "Lucy, Lucy Estigoy."

Harry shook her hand firmly while he took a good look at her.

She was obviously of Asian descent and her skin tone was close to Jay's just a little lighter and had an undertone of yellow instead of brown. Her pitch black hair reached part way down her back and had a good shine to it. Her frame was firm and athletic.

But despite all that Harry found his eyes traveling to her b-cups, apparently puberty has started.

"My eyes are up here kid" she said with mild annoyance.

"Sorry," He said looking back into her hazel eyes and introduced himself "Harry Potter"

Lucy's eyes bugged out and glared at Jay "You do realize you just kidnapped one of the most important people in Britain and could start a mini war between us and their government, right?'

"Bah, I kidnapped nobody" Jay took a second to look at Harry "You're important Decchi?"

Harry shrugged.

"Ah, doesn't matter." Jay concluded not caring if he got in a self imposed war with Britain "He's here now."

Lucy started to shake her head at his stupidity but conceded.

A second later the music from down the hall became a little clearer and a new occupant came into the kitchen. He made his way over to the refrigerator but paused and turned to Harry and Jay "Who's the new white boy?"

"My Decchi!" Jay exclaimed happily but the other boy groaned.

"I hate it when you use those Japanese words. I know you trained there for a while but seriously!"

"Whatever. Anyway, Decchi, Michael, Michael, Harry Potter" Michael tilted his head back in greeting and Harry bowed his in response.

After the informal greeting Harry took a good look at the new arrival. He stood taller than his older brother, much taller maybe half a foot, and he was in even better shape than Jay. The freckles on his face seemed strange with his dark skin that was of a milk chocolate shade. He had his hair rolled into dreadlocks and pulled back with a headband.

"Nice meeting yah," Was all he said before he started to rummage through the refrigerator. A second later his head popped out with a scowl on his face "Oi! Where's my sprite, I told yah to grab me my sprite while you were out!"

Lucy crossed her arms and glared at Jay who still had his arm wrapped around Harry's neck using him as a crutch for some reason. "Jay didn't grab the groceries; he grabbed another mouth to feed and is calling it his apprentice."

"Is that what that funny d word means?" Jay nodded his head "About time, you've been whining about wanting one for the past year. Even went as far as made that stupid book."

Jay took his weight off of Harry and shot his brother a glare "Hey it pays the bills"

"And so does your other job, and Lucy's, and Nick's"

"And you and Tyler are a bunch of freeloaders."

"Hey we try to help."

"Try and fail. Clients keep on complaining about your damn mouth and attitude."

"My mouth and attitude? What about yours? They're worse than mine!"

"I know how to keep my mouth shut and my attitude in check on the job yah retard." Jay said calmly, obviously infuriating his brother. "Unlike you who kept staring at the employer's daughter, who ended up kneeing you in jewels."

The little brotherly spat lasted a good minute or two, entertaining the two occupants of the room. In the end Michael just left the room in an angry huff. Jay shot the retreating figure the finger.

"Okay Decchi," Jay started before he shot one last glare towards a slamming door "Were starting you training tonight. No magic, just seeing where you are physically then I'm going to quiz yah a bit. Sound good?"

Harry gave a firm nod and Jay immediately grabbed him by the wrist.

"Good, let's head to the seventh floor."

As the doors to the elevator started to close he could hear Lucy shout not to knock off Jay's glasses. The statement confused him but he kept it close to mind.

The buildings elevator was quick so they had no problem reaching floor seven in under a minute.

This floor had no halls or other rooms just the four walls and windows that made up the floor. A few worn out heavy bags laid in one of the corners with some heavy looking dumbbells nearby. Other exercise equipment was around but nearly all of it looked like it was pushed up against the walls, leaving a good chunk of the floor open where a large ten by ten circle was.

"Okay Decchi, get in the center of the circle"

Skeptically Harry did as he was told "Um, Sensei, What are we doing?"

Jay started to do some light stretches as he made his way to join Harry in the ring "Sparring."

"Sparring? You mean fighting? Why are we fighting?"

"One," Jay said crouching down and stretching his legs, effectively popping his knees "It's the quickest way I know how fit you are and how your instincts and reflexes are." Be bent backwards and popped part of his spine "Two, in a fight not all your opponents are going to fight like Brits. There are some countries that specialize in close up magic. Especially the Thai, piece of advice, never let them finish that dance of theirs; it's a pain in the ass. Anyway, it's good practice for those situations" He stopped his stretches with a swirl of his arm "And last, it's fun as hell!"

And with that Jay charged at Harry and made a quick roundhouse kick, which connected easily to Harry's side, but instead of tumbling over in pain Harry barely winced. A cruel smile started to cross Jay's face "Oh, Decchi! You can take a hit!? I don't need to hold back with you do I!" the amount of excitement in his voice actually scared Harry.

Before Harry could say anything about his outburst Jay Flung himself forward and went into an overwhelming combo of attacks. Jab, straight, knee, elbow, low kick, jab, jab, high kick, side kick. It just didn't stop.

Harry could tell Jay wasn't trying that hard but the sheer speed and force behind each blow was still shocking. What confused him was how these blows were obviously stronger than Dudley's but they hurt less, a lot less, like he was just getting pinched instead of being punched.

And despite the blows not hurting he felt annoyance and a bit of rage. Not just a bit of rage, a lot of rage. Like there was a little voice in the back of his head telling him to attack and rip him apart, to go forward strike fast and strike high. Telling him how dare something lower than him even try to hit him.

He fought the urge as best he could telling himself what he was thinking was wrong. It grew harder when one his split his lip. He tried to bite it back and keep it under control but lost it when another strike made blood drip from his nose.

Harry opened his mouth and let out a frightening scream that sounded like a demented roar based off of a hiss and a eagle's shriek. His fangs were bared and his stance was low waiting for a chance to attack.

Jay stopped his onslaught when he saw his new student acting strange "Decchi?" Harry's hair started to ruffle and stand on ends, glowing slightly. Flames started to lick over his exposed blood sealing the minor wounds and making the blood disappear.

Harry let out another hissing shriek "Shit," was all Jay muttered as Harry sprang towards him at incredible speed.

Jay barely blocked the blow but noted it stronger than the Vampire in Maine he fought a few months ago. Jay was having a fairly easy time blocking all the blows sent his way and made sure to be wary of Harry's head, those fangs really did not look like fun.

He flung a powerful kick at Harry pushing the boy back "Decchi! Calm the hell down! Or I'll put you down!" Harry didn't even flinch at the threat; he just jumped up high and tried to make a clawing strike connect to his head. "That's not going to work!" he yelled grabbing Harry's wrist and flipping the boy over his shoulder and towards the ground.

Harry grimaced for a second before disappearing in a burst of flames.

"Well that's something you don't see every day." Jay muttered before feeling heat at the back of his neck.

Turning around quickly he caught sight of Harry's feral eyes and the fangs trying to make their way to his neck. Jay reacted out of instinct and grabbed Harry by the throat and twisted his left leg behind Harry's knees, pivoting his back foot he slammed Harry to the ground with all his weight behind it.

"Oh fuck! Decchi! Are you alright!?" Jay yelled as he realized the move he use was one of the more fatal. To his surprise Harry just stood up again and still looked ready to go. "Don't you ever stop?" He asked actually curious at this point.

His only response was another demented roar and Harry's flailing fist. Jay did his best to dodge most of the hit because no matter how tough he was he wasn't risking breaking something in this.

Deciding to end this Jay put his hand in front of his face and channeled his magic into his pointer and middle finger. A light blue square started to swirl around the extended fingers and he pointed towards Harry "Ketsu!" a light blue square engulfed Harry and restricted his movements.

"There we go. That should hold yah." His little celebration was cut short as Harry started to pound a crack in the square. "Fuck, kid doesn't want to calm down." He then set up more layers of the blue squares and constricted the size.

When Harry barely had an inch to move Jay walked up and started to examine his student "Huh, who would have guessed, a non-human. Looks human enough though. Meh, as long as isn't like Tony and tries to drink my blood every other chance, I'm good with this." Harry made another roar "Just need to control that temper of his. Almost as bad as mine."

Jay turned his attention to the elevator as it rang and three individuals stormed out wands raised high. Jay raised his hand to the new occupants and flicked it in mock salute "Yo"

Lucy dropped her wand to her side and marched up to Jay "Yo?! Yo!? That's all you got to say after making all that noise?! What the hell was going on up here!?"

Jay gave her a few moments to catch her breath "Decchi," he said pointing to the incased Harry "is not human and went on a rage. Had to trap him and am now waiting for him to calm down." He added a few more squares as Harry tore through another few layers "First lesson is going to have to be controlling instincts."

The four Americans watched as Harry struggled Jay started to get irritated "Nicky, knock him out."

A heavy set white male around the same age as Jay stepped out of the group. His black hair shaggy and draped over his blue eyes a bit.

"Can you make a hole in that or something?"

"Doubting my skill" Jay joked as he made a square passage way that led to the back of Harry's head.

Nick smiled as he raised his wand and had a green glow at the tip "Always." He placed the tip of the wand at Harry's skull and muttered a quick spell, effectively knocking the boy out.

Jay disengaged the barriers and hoisted Harry over his shoulder "We'll toss him in his room now and ask the questions later." He got a nod from the rest of the group and moved towards the elevator. "Let's order some Pizza. I'm hungry."

Harry groaned as he rolled off the plain bed, being woken up by shouting, again. He started to wonder if Americans ever stopped yelling.

"I'm telling you that's my pepperoni! I will scorch your white ass if you try to take pizza from my box again"

"Oh come on Jay just one slice."

"No, I ordered one large pepperoni for myself you all get those extra larges over there so back off."

Harry stood in the doorway of the kitchen not really knowing what to do. This was someone else's home and he couldn't just sit down, it would seem rude. But he was hungry.

Noticing his student looking uncomfortable in the door way Jay waved him over "Decchi! Get over here and have some pie."

Lucy gave a frustrated groan "That's it! Tyler! Grab that Japanese English dictionary! We are finding out if he's using that damn word right! Or if it even exists!"

A member of the table left before Harry got a good look at him and Jay gestured to the seat next to him before he started talking with Lucy "Why would you need a Japanese dictionary when you got a living breathing one right here."

"Because, half the time you have no clue what you're talking about."

Jay grabbed his chest in mock hurt "Lucy, you wound me." She rolled her eyes and said whatever, ending that discussion until the missing table member returned.

Harry guessed that this was the last brother, seeing as the only other person he hasn't been introduced yet looked nothing like the other two. This one looked like a chubbier version of Jay that was about three inches taller. His hair cut in a similar fashion to his older brother although it was of a dark red instead of black. His skin tone seemed to be somewhere in between his two brothers and he had a constant monkey like grin on his face.

He was also holding up a small blue book and read out loud as he retook his seat "Decchi, a shop boy apprentice."

Jay slammed his head on the table next to his pizza box as Lucy let out a laugh "Hey, I was close."

"Uh huh. Why don't you just call him apprentice or student like a normal person?"

"Because it sounds way too Star Wars-ish for me." Jay faked a shutter "I really don't want to be like that Sidious dude"

"Star Wars?" Harry asked innocently "What's that?"

All occupants at the table stopped what they were doing and stared at the boy. The new red head started to shake his head "You poor neglected boy. Not getting to see the greatness of Star Wars" the red head got a smack to the back of his head "Ow, what was that for."

"Being an idiot." Jay said bluntly before snatching the dictionary away from him. He searched for about ten seconds before he spoke again "Okay, 'Deshi'. We'll get to the movie thing later but for now we got some questions."

Harry slumped down in his chair; he didn't remember much from the spar but guessed he showed something he shouldn't have.

Jay leaned in towards Harry with a very serious look on his face "You're not into dudes right?"

Harry did a slight double take on the question "Uh, no."

"Okay than, no problems."

The room fell silent before Lucy broke out to yell at Jay, again "That's it? That's all you're going to ask?"

"Hey, I got no problems with vamps or gays. But if I run into another gay vamp, I really don't think I could handle it."

"You get along fine with Tony." The red head pointed out.

"And he's the reason why I don't want to run into another gay vamp. Dude's cool and all but he keeps checking out my ass and trying to bite my neck when he thinks I'm not looking." Jay shook his head like he was trying to get rid of a bad memory "Dude doesn't take no for an answer."

Lucy rolled her eyes but had to agree, Tony was a bit forward. "That aside. We do have more questions for you. Like for one, what are you? We've seen vampires before and their fangs aren't like yours and according to Jay you can teleport in flames, vampires can't do that either, mist yeas, fire no."

Harry really didn't know how to respond. He wasn't close enough to these people to actually tell them anything. But if he didn't would they kick him out? Because honestly falling into this place was a god sent, he found a place to stay and gets to learn while he stays here.

"Bah!" Jay said interrupting Harry from his train of thought "Like I said I don't give a shit. Deshi is here now and not much we can do about it. He good peoples, I can tell. So he doesn't need to tell us nothing. Besides what happened upstairs were just loose instincts, happens to the best of us." Jay turned to Harry "I think lesson one or two is going to be controlling those instincts, they're dead useful in a fight but fall into them you're dead." The other at the table nodded agreeing that it didn't really matter, as long as he didn't try and kill them they didn't give a fuck.

Harry really couldn't help but smile. They didn't care what he was, they would treat him normal. He started to wonder if this was how people were going to react to him back in Britain. He hoped that it would be the case.

As they continued to talk, drifting away from Harry's species, Jay asked what Harry knew about magic. And when Harry told them what he learned so far at Hogwarts Jay slammed his head to the table.

"Is it that bad?" Harry asked innocently, feeling a little offended. He thought his school was doing a fine job teaching him, sure they taught him nothing about how to deal with a possessed teacher or fight a giant snake but they taught him well enough to get by.

Jay raised his head from the table and shook no "No, most countries have different curriculum they teach in their schools and focus on different types of magic. Like what I say about the Thai upstairs. They specialize in close range magic, using shields, extending their reach, increasing their speed and power. It's pretty much the magical version of Muay Thai, all of it based around a dance." Jay scratched the back of his head "European countries all have about the same type of magic, only changing slightly with a few different beliefs and traditions."

"Now America on the other hand, technically we have no magic that belongs to us. Excluding the natives, all the magic we used at some point was based off of somewhere else's. Our base was British magic, that's why most of us still use wands, then you mix in the magic of the experimental and 'dark' magic users who came over and blend there stuff in, then all the immigrant counties adding their own stuff in, muggleborns slamming their old life's tech in as time went on. Our magic style is pretty much a mash up of other cultures, so we are pretty unoriginal." Jay finished his mini lecture and returned to the last of the pepperoni pizza.

Harry was opened jawed at what Jay just said, not by the information he just said but the fact he actually sounded smart. Something he really wasn't expecting out of him. Sure he expected him to be strong, maybe even crazy, but not smart.

Lucy noticed Harry's expression and smirked "Yeah, I know. You don't expect anything smart to come out of this guy's face but he has moments of brilliance every once in a while. He's still an idiot though"

Jay gave Harry a run through of what he'd teaching him tomorrow, not giving set times to any, a work out session, martial arts practice, instinct control, studying from that book he got the other day, and magic lessons. Harry asked why the first two and Jay explained that physical health while you're younger effect your magic when you're older, plus it would make his movements more fluid in an actual fight.

Harry really did not get his teacher. One moment he was a big idiot swearing every other word and talking nonsense but other times he seemed calm collected and understood things others didn't. It was weird as hell.

The next morning Harry was woken up at around eight by a certain teacher barging in and screaming at him to wake up. They gave him a quick breakfast and some pathetic excuse for tea. After that Jay brought him outside.

He was told they'd be running around the block and not to worry since it was a warded area that few could get in, apparently it's an old magical district that got abandoned. When he said Harry would be running with incentive he was afraid to ask what he meant.

His response was "You see, I'm a natural animagus and I need to stretch the animals legs." When fur started to cover his body he gave Harry the warning he better run. For the next hour Harry was running from a very large stripped and short mained caramel colored cat.

After that work out Jay dragged Harry back to the seventh floor where he sparred, much lighter this time, with Harry while introducing him to the basic forms of his style. A two good hours of that lead to a lunch with the rest of the house.

Lucy's nose cringed as they entered "Oh, no. Go take a shower and change before your eating with us."

Jay grumbled and did as he was told but Harry stood there looking down. "Um, I only have these."

"And you worked out anyway?"

"Kind of forgot."

"Men" Lucy mumbled before heading over to Jay's room. Some shouting was heard, a flush of a toilet and a yelp. Lucy came out of Jay's room a minute later with a bundle of cloths in arm "Jay is the closest to you in size so you'll be taking some of his until we get you something."

"Aren't these a bit baggy?"

"Jay is two hundred pounds of muscle and is six feet tall, not a close fit but the closest you got. And the only person closer to your size is me and I don't think you want to be wearing girl cloths, now do you?" She asked forcing Harry to carry a blush, one that turned brighter when he saw the next article of clothing.

"Underwear?"

"You aren't having your skinny ass hanging out all day. With as baggy as those pants are going to be on you, you'll be flashing the whole city." Harry blushed again. He didn't recall people in Britain being so, straight forward.

Lucy was about to tell him to go to the shower when a thought hit her "Did you at least bring some money with you?"

"Yeah, but it's all galleons. Does America take galleons?"

Lucy scratched her chin "That's the Euro money, so no. We're going to hit the banks and go shopping. I like you kid but I don't know you enough to lend you money." Harry nodded his head in understanding and moved to the shower.

Harry was a little nervous about taking a shower here. He found out at Hogwarts that every week he needed to shed his skin and it usually occurred during a bath or shower. He could usually feel when it was time, similar to an itch beneath the skin, and it seemed hot water helped to take it off. It doesn't disturb him as bad now but it still feels weird.

He researched why his skin did this and found that snakes shed for two reasons. One to grow and two as a form of cleaning themselves. He guessed it was the cleaning part since it only happened when he was in hot water; he jumped in the lake one time to see if it did the same thing but he stayed the same, so it was only during bathing times. He was afraid that it would happen when he washed his hands too, thankfully it didn't when he tired.

It was hell trying to get the skin out of the Dursley's without raising suspicions, not as bad at Hogwarts since the house elves helped him dispose of the waist.

Harry found it slightly disturbing he considered himself some sort of snake now, same with birds, but honestly he didn't mind. It's like he subconsciously accepted it. Besides this shedding thing saved him time and money since he didn't need to use soap to clean himself.

He stepped in the shower and let the hot water run over his body. When his skin started to loosen he took a firm hold of his left shoulder and pulled the skin down all the way to the finger tips, he did the same for the other arm and moved onto the rest of his body. He found it funny how doing his legs reminded him so much of taking off a pair of pants.

After removing the loose bits of skin still left Harry moved out of the shower and put on the baggy clothes of Jay's that Lucy gave him to wear. The clothes she gave him were baggy black shirt with the white part of the ying yang symbol in the center of the chest and a white dot on the shoulder and a pair of blue jeans that he had to roll up. He also reluctantly put on the plaid underwear.

He looked back at the shower and wondered how he could remove the shed skin without getting noticed. He noticed the small plastic bag in the garbage pail near the sink and took it out, shoving all the old skin in it.

Tying the bag tight he hid it near his trunk and moved out towards the kitchen for lunch. They gave him some really salty chicken flavored soup to eat. During the meal Jay gave a quick version of the 'instinct training', saying that this was an area that he had to learn young.

When asked why Jay rubbed the back of his head and said "I'm a natural Animagus."

"What's that?"

"Uh" Jay looked visibly embarrassed so Lucy saved him.

"You know what an Animagus is?"

Harry thought for a second and remembered his house head and how she was able to turn into a cat "Yeah. They're people who can turn into animals right?"

"Basically yeah. It's when a witch or wizard find their inner animal and learn to change into it." Lucy smiled seeing how Harry new a bit already "Now a natural Animagus is when someone can do this at a very early age, most of the time right after birth. This usually only happens with Native Americans, since they were the ones who created this technique. Basically it happens when both parents are of similar species and, well…"

Tyler cut in "Both our parents turned to animals and did the nasty and Jay was born." He got swatted in the back of the head "What? It's true."

"Didn't need to put it so bluntly." Jay mumbled and the others chuckled a bit. Harry had the decency to blush; knowing full well what the 'nasty' meant since Ron and the others of his dorm started to talk about it like it was the most important thing in the world.

"So, um, Sensei? What animal are you?"

"Well, me, I'm a hybrid. Yah see my Mah was a Bengal tiger and my Pah was African Lion. Funny because my Mah was from Kenya, you'd think she'd be a lion not my Scottish dad. Anyway, I ended up turning into a Liger a little past my second day in the world. Benefits from being one rock but the instincts could be overbearing" Harry decided that's what made the brothers talk so strange, even for Americans. Both their parents accents mixed with the New York slang made a very unique sound.

Harry liked the idea of turning into an animal. He hoped that if he ever learned the skill he was either something fast or something that flew. It'd be nice to fly through the sky without a broom beneath him. Just him and the sky, nothing between him and the wind, nothing of stopping him from roaming the open air, just freedom.

Nick took him out of his daze by asking him questions. Just the usual, where are you from, what school did he go to and how old he was.

Harry enjoyed the group's reaction to finding out that he wasn't even thirteen yet. Most saying how he looked like he could pass for fourteen or fifteen, while Jay just laughed saying how easy it would be to mold him.

After lunch it was decided that Lucy and Jay would be the ones taking him to Magical New York for cloths. The other s said something along the lines of how they didn't care or were too lazy to come.

Jay led them to the back of the building where the garage was. Inside was a single car, a sleek red muscle car with two black stripes running down the middle. When Jay hoped in the driver's seat and started the car he seemed to be in a state of bliss listening to the car roar.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she entered the passenger side and Harry went to the back seat. "So why aren't we doing that teleporting thing we did to get here?"

"One," Jay said as he drove out of the garage "Apparition is uncomfortable as hell. Two, you can't do this while Appertaining." And with that he flicked on his CD player and speakers. The bass boomed in his ears as the speakers screamed. Jay went along with the spoken lyrics. Harry started to bob his head a little, which caused Jay to tease him about a Brit that actually liked rap.

Jay started to cuss as he couldn't find a parking spot. He eventually found one, two blocks away from where he wanted but he found one.

As they arrived at the entrance of MNY Harry stared up in amazement. The entrance was at the base f two buildings, two of the tallest Harry's ever seen. The two towers seemed like brothers looking down at the city.

"Deshi! Hurry up!" Jay yelled out as he and Lucy waited by a wall no one seemed to be going by. When Harry was close enough to see Jay turned into the wall, going through like he was entering water, Lucy fallowed soon after. Harry followed as well figuring it was like the platform back in London.

The inside of the magical wall wasn't that interesting. Just a plain blue room with a bunch of elevators surrounding the circular walls.

They entered the one directly across from the wall, where on the inside Lucy and Jay instantly grabbed the metal railing on the inside. "You better hang on" was the only warning they gave him as the elevator pretty much free fell for two minutes before coming to an abrupt stop.

Unfortunately Harry didn't listen to Jay or Lucy and didn't hang on to the sides. So he ended up being loosed mid air and slammed to the ground when he stopped. Jay laughed pretty hard while Lucy checked if he was okay.

After Harry recovered from his fall they existed the building and entered Magical New York. The city was just as awe striking as the first time but seeing such a large underground city will do that to you.

When they started to direct him across the street to the bank a car almost hit them. Prompting Jay to kick at the fender and call the guy some pretty colorful names.

Finishing the little argument they entered the bank and to Harry's surprise, it wasn't all that impressive. Well, by magical standards. It didn't really look like Gringotts, more like the bank his 'uncle' brought him to that one time.

The room was painted a light blue and had a few office doors towards the back. But the offices weren't where they were heading. They were going towards the cashier desk. The desk was separated into six different smaller desks, each with its own teller except number four that had a sign saying he was on break. But what surprised him the most was that there was another species working with the Goblin at this bank.

They were stout creatures that looked similar to humans if they were three feet tall. They seemed built strong around the shoulders and the males had thick proud beards hanging off their chin.

It took him a while to realize he's seen creatures like this before, unfortunately. He remembered when his last year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher made some of them shave their beards and sing to them for valentine's day. A very disturbing memory.

Lucy told him to take out all the money he had on him because 'he needed all the clothes he could get' and Jay retorted that 'it's expensive going shopping with her' and he got elbowed in the gut. Harry pulled out his Mokeskin pouch. Jay whistled at the pouch saying it was rare and Harry shrugged it off saying it was a gift from a friend his first year of school.

He reached his hand into the bag and started to pull out handfuls of golden coins, only stopping briefly to place the piece of paper Hermione gave him in his pocket. In the end it took the four of them two minutes to quickly count up the gold coins, a grand total of 243 galleons.

"Uh, Desshi? Where did you get this kind of money?" Jay didn't know much about conversion but knew enough o tell that this was a whole hell of a lot of money.

"My parents left me a vault account at Gringotts back in Britain. My friend Hagrid took me there my first time and gave me this pouch as a Birthday gift. Told me to put as much as I want in and well I put in a lot. Didn't really make a dent in the pile though."

Jay just hmmed, apparently he lost interest, and Lucy told him to only convert about a hundred galleons since that'd be more than enough.

The Dwarf in turn handed over one thousand and seven dollars to his customers and wished them a good day.

Lucy then dragged the two males to a department store nearby and forbade Jay from helping pick out Harry's cloths. When asked why she said the man had a weird fixation on black and white cloths and she didn't want Harry walking around looking like a hip hop wanna be mime.

Jay grumbled and accepted the fact, letting Lucy help Harry pick out clothes. Well, it was more like she was picking out clothes in mass and he got to pick what he wanted and what he didn't. She picked out a lot of dark blue clothes, saying that it was his color or something. She also picked out a lot of gold and red clothes at his suggestion; he took a lot of pride in being a lion.

But his favorite shirt that they picked out was the dark blue hoody with a light blue tribal wings design on the back and a different shade of blue snake wrapped around the right arm, head resting at the shoulder. It might just be some weird fixation on what he is but he liked it.

Jay at one point disobeyed Lucy and picked out a pair of sneakers for Harry. And despite Lucy's scolding Harry actually liked them. They were almost snow white in color with three black strips running on both side of the shoe. Jay said that they were addidas or something like that.

And since Jay picked something out Lucy decided she would to, Harry didn't get why she had to but he let her. What she got him was a weird looking necklace. It looked like a spider web trapped inside a circle with three little feathers hanging off the rim.

Harry gave her a questioning look "It's a dream catcher. Some classic Native American magic that's supposed to ward away bad dreams and keep the good. Easy to replicate but you can't beat the originals they made." Harry nodded and brought all his clothes up to the counter.

In the end he spent a total of $629.78, he gaped at the price but Jay said it was his fault for shopping with Lucy.

The next day after the exercises designed to help him control his instincts, he really hated the one where he got slapped repeatedly across the face, and he expressed his worry about using his magic.

"um, Sensei. I'm a little worried that I'll get in trouble for using magic outside of school. They monitor us in Britain."

"First off, stop putting 'um' in front of every sentence, it gets fucking annoying." Jay started to stroke his chin "And the monitoring thing. I have no clue if it reaches all the way here or if it works in a magical home. I'll look into it." He then puts on a feral smile as his a square of blue energy started to swirl around his fingers "But that only includes wand magic." Harry gave a tiny gulp at the look on the man's face.

Harry learned a lot over the two weeks he stayed with the Americans. One of which was to never again let Michael take over the run while Jay is too tired, because being chased by a giant cat beats being chased by a gun wielding maniac screaming 'Run Boo-Boo! Run!' And despite his loyalty to Hogwarts he believed he might have learned more in his two weeks at the apartment building then he did in two years at the castle. Technically he was only taught a few things there but that magic was invaluable and had many uses. He also gained a lot of 'culture' as Tyler called it, and that was just watching movies at night.

He learned many things that he thought were impossible even knowing magic existed. Jay told him not to dwell on it too much or it would hurt his head.

And when they found out about the sheddings that he was hiding they just shrugged it off and said they've seen weirder. Making Harry question exactly what these guys have seen. Lucy actually said she was jealous because of how his skin shined after he shed but she cringed at the idea of peeling off her skin every week.

He bonded so much with the rag tag family that he was actually a little sad he had to go back to Britain. They offered to let him stay at the apartment while they went out and did the job but he refused, saying that the home would feel lonely with just him. But he did take the up on their offer to come back around Christmas time.

Harry had a little trouble packing in all his new clothes into his trunk, that was almost empty when he arrived, but Nick and Jay managed to help him with a good old fashioned American trick. Brute force. Forgetting all about the fact that they could have shrunk the luggage or enlarged the case but hey jamming everything in one go works.

He was very grateful when they helped him set-up a long range portkey appointment, he really didn't want to try teleporting back to Britain, seeing as the last trip wiped him out. These portkey appointments were similar to a airplane or train terminal. You spoke with a clerk, got a ticket and time, and then you and a few other passengers grab on to the key and get transported to said place. They've only been around for a few decades but they were very useful.

The portkey station actually was at an airport. And just like the platform and the entrance to MNYC there was a wall entrance between terminals that muggles didn't seem to notice. The portkey terminal looked similar to the airport outside the wall. Cheesy gift shops, little bookstores, fast food joints, white walls with posters, advertisements and strange pieces of art.

Lucy checked him over once making sure that he had everything. After assuring her he was fine Jay ruffled his feathers and gave his farewell, followed by the rest of the group each giving their own version of a goodbye.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss you guys too."

Jay ruffled his feathers again "Okay, your terminal is over there." Jay said pointing to a circular room with the British flag hanging over it "Huh, go figure. A tea cup is the transport. Stereotypes. Of course this one's true, ain't it Desshi." Harry blushed a little as he remembered his reactions to the tea they served him.

"Americans have no taste." He joked

"Talk to us about coffee and we'll get back to you."

Harry laughed as he walked over to the teacup and waited for the few minutes it took to charge the thing, apparently the only other passenger was late. Harry gave his new group of friends one last wave and grabbed onto the teacup when the 'pilot' told him to.

As he grabbed onto the tea cup Harry felt like something hooked onto his belly button and dragged him through a long tunnel. The long tunnel went on for what felt like an hour before a bright light appeared and he landed face first onto the stone floor of what he guessed was the British drop off point.

"Ow." He decided then and there he liked his flame travel, or whatever it was, better than another form of magical transport. An attendant offered a hand up but he said he got himself.

As he stood up and padded off his clothes he asked where the nearest phone was. But it seemed that this wizard was a pureblood or was raised in the wizard because she had no clue what a 'telerphran' was and even went to ask if it was a new place to eat.

He just sighed and walked out the building, surprising himself by ending up in Diagon Alley. He figured he'd end up at least at King Cross Station but hey, this kind of made sense too. Harry planned on coming here eventually, to do some work at the bank and maybe get his school shopping done early but he mostly wanted to come here to stay at the Leaky Cauldron.

But before all that he planned to make an overdue phone call.

**So yeah, he's back in Britain and yes you all will be seeing the NY again, eventually. Anyway, he's back and there is… less than two weeks for school, a busy two weeks and a whole lot of hell at Hogwarts. And I just want to point out that I think that magic would be very similar to Martial arts in the regard that something similar was built out of different cultures that go for a similar end or act similarly while keeping their own style. Make sense? Yes I do rationalize everything to fighting.**

**Two more things that are actually important.**

**1. Anyone from a different country that has an idea for what they want their countries magic type to be tell me. Europeans are kind of stuck with slight changes, sorry but hey have to stay similar to the books. Thai can also add in stuff if they want**

**2. My beta is getting over worked in his personal stuff, couldn't really beta this chapter because of that, so I need a second beta. Any volunteers welcomed but I would like to make a few standards. No ass kissers please, I want someone to tell me what I did wrong not stroke my ego and tell me what a good bot I am. Know enough about Harry potter to help. Don't just do grammar and spelling, I like when they give me their own ideas or give lines they think would sound good. And last but not needed, someone who speaks British or know British speak, I'm American so I don't know British mannerisms and would like help with that.**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**You add insomnia in with waiting at a bus stop and breaks in-between classes at college with no homework you get a new chapter.**

**Someone pointed out something I made a bad about and now I'm pissed about. I told a lie last chapter. Harry still has little over a month till school starts. I made the Marge attack about three days before Harry's birthday, on purpose, so Harry never got his presents or knew about his friends trips. Don't worry this month is still crazy.**

**Also, people with stuff to say, use a real pin name and I will probably answer you if I find it interesting enough. I'm not talking about flamers I could give two shits about them, but the people with real stuff to say I want to answer and it annoys me when I can't. and anybody who complains about the American stuff again all I got to say is wait to later and you will see why.**

**And for those who don't like where I'm going my story now has a little brother, check out 'Rebirth' by Fiori75. It might be what you want because I go where I want and he goes where he wants.**

**Chapter six: Back in England**

Hermione Granger was annoyed, frustrated and worried. The first two mainly because her aunt and uncle were over with her cousins for the week. Sure they were family and they loved each other but that sure as hell didn't mean they could get along, and she refused too with Sarah.

But the reason why she was worried was because her best friend's owl, who would almost always stay with him when it could, arrived at her window the week she returned from her trip in France with her birthday present to Harry laying on her bed unwrapped. She thought that maybe he was at the Weasleys' but remembered they were still in Egypt visiting Bill.

She only had a few friends in this world and she'd be damned if anything happens to them if she could help it. And not being able to help them scared and worried her.

She wondered where he was and if he was alright. And it didn't really help that he was acting strange the last few weeks of school.

Hermione was dragged out of her thoughts by a familiar hoot from the snowy white owl sitting at the station she set up for her friends owls when they came. "Hey girl. "she said as she reached over to pet the owl "You're worried too?" she asked receiving a nod from the bird

As she stroked the owl's head Hermione wondered exactly how smart this bird was because it seemed smarter than most, the smartest she's seen anyway. She theorized it may because she's a magical owl but scrapped that seeing how the Weasly owl was. She later thought it might be that a familiar bond was set up between her and Harry.

She couldn't be sure as she only skimmed that type of magic.

Hermione ignored the ringing phone as she stroked the owl's feathers, enjoying her hoots of pleasure. She stopped petting the bird when she heard her father yell her name.

"Yes?" she called out as she opened her bedroom door.

"Phone for you. He says he's a school chum of yours. And this one can actually use the phone right." Hermione slightly winced remembering hearing the Weasly boy shout as he tried to call her. She had no clue how he got the number but he did and nearly yelled her father's ear off.

It didn't take long for Hermione to guess who was on the phone "Be right down."

Hermione was about to make her way to the den where the phone and her father were but the voice of one of her cousins cut her off. "Who'd call you?"

Hermione slightly turned towards her to answer "Don't know," she lied and continued on her way down the stairs and took a turn into the den.

She took the phone from her father and gave him her thanks "Hello?"

"_Hey 'Mione. It's Harry._" Hermione was shocked for a second. She'd guessed it was him but worrying about someone for little less than a month and then they suddenly call is a bit strange.

"Harry? Where have you've been? Everyone's been worried." Hermione did her best to keep her voice a even level, the situation was a bit irritating.

"_New York._" Harry's distorted voice answered. And before Hermione could ask anymore question's Harry stopped her "_Hey 'Mione. Yah think I could come over? I promise to answer any and all questions there_."

Hermione was a bit torn on this. While she would love to have her friend over, the first friend to actually come to her home, she had family over and it would be rude to invite someone else over. And besides that it was her parents decision if could come. But she really wanted to talk to him.

"One minute," she said placing her hand on the receiver after getting an okay from Harry and turned towards her father who was still in the room "Um, Dad?" She asked making the man turn towards her "My friend wants to know if it's okay to come over."

The man put on a thinking pose. He wanted his daughter to interact more with her friends and god knows her two cousins were horrible to her, well more Sarah than the other that doesn't care. But it was a boy and they were getting around that age.

He was about to say no on just that general principle but the pleading look in his daughter's eyes forced him to say yes.

Hermione smiled at him in thanks and started to talk back into the phone. "My dad says you can. Do you need directions?"

"_Nah. I got a rough idea where you are. I should be there in about ten minutes._" Hermione just noticed but some of Harry's speech mannerisms changed but held off any questions until he came over.

"Okay, see you soon." She hung up the phone after receiving her goodbye. "He said he'd be here in a bit" she said addressing her father.

He gave a nod and told her to tell her mother and their guest. After which Hermione sat at the stairs looking at front door waiting for Harry to arrive. It was pretty exciting to her considering she's never had a friend come over before.

Sarah sat a few stairs above her waiting as well to see her cousin's friend. She hasn't heard of her having many friends and was interested to see what he was like. She put money on him being some sort of poindexter or geek like her cousin.

"So when's your boyfriend getting here?" she asked in a teasing tone making Hermione huff a bit.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's my best friend and he should be here soon" She said never taking her eyes off the door.

"Whatever you say, I just still can't believe that someone is visiting 'you'. I mean really. How did you make any friends with your face shoved in a book?" Hermione griped the stair she was sitting on trying to ignore the girl the best she could.

Hermione heard the doorbell and went to get the door but Sarah got there first. As she was the first to hear the foot steps outside the door and was also the first one to reach the door to greet the guest. But when she opened the door she was in shock.

They boy stood in front of her was no means a geek or a nerd, he actually seemed the opposite of the stereotype. He stood a few inches taller than her even in his slacked posture and he seemed in good shape. His bright green eyes seemed to stand out through a few loose strands of his soft looking black hair.

His dark blue hooded sweat shirt seemed to fit the air he put off as the snake on his arm seemed to be alive as the light shinned on the design. And the web like necklace that hung freely on his neck seemed strange as it shifted to some lingering wind.

The boy smiled down at her "Hi. Is Hermione home?" Hermione herself was still a little put off by her friend's recent change and now even his voice was different. It had a weird twang and slur to it but it seemed so peaceful, it was like it was lighting a fire in everyone's chest that heard it.

Hermione quickly shoved all thought of how different he was out of her mind and jumped to her feet and gave her best friend a fierce hug. Harry stumbled back a step from the impact and was pretty sure that if he was hit by that last year he would have fallen backwards.

Harry smiled and returned the hug "Hey 'Mionie. How's your summer been?"

Hermione stopped the hug after hearing the question and got slightly irked by the tone of voice, a cheerful nonchalant tone of voice. "Oh it was fine. I had a great time in France but when I got home I found Hedwig on my bed. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Harry raised his hands in a calm down and slow down motion "Hey, I'll tell you everything. But first does your friend there know about…" His voice trailed so she got the hint.

"She's my cousin; I'll introduce you in a bit, and no. Only my parents know about that."

Sarah for her part was confused and was wondering what they know that she doesn't. It was suspicious and irritated her. Especially when her cousin just dismissed her like that.

"Harry? Why do you have your trunk?"

Harry looked down at his trunk and shrugged "Just got back in the country and haven't had time to get a hotel yet."

Sarah decided it was her time to step in "Out of the country? Where have you been?"

"America. Just sort of ended up in New York."

"Wow! What's it like over there?"

"Louder." He said simply since he didn't really know how to describe what he saw to a non magical. He spent most his time at the building, it only had one housing floor from what he saw so he couldn't call it an apartment building, and the MNYC. "So where can I leave this while I'm here?" Harry asked Hermione so he could change the subject.

Hermione told him could leave it in the den for now and practically dragged him up the stairs and to her room, not even bothering to introduce him to her family. He actually laughed at her eagerness and bit back a rather Michael like joke about her dragging him up to her room.

Harry found Hermione's room to be a strange combination between nerdy and girly. The walls were colored a bright shade of purple with two bookshelves on the right wall, and by the looks of the number of books there she was working on a third. And it just wasn't text books on magic either apparently Hermione had a slight romance novel addiction. The sheets of her bed were of a floral design and a few stuffed animals lay over the covers. In one corner was a desk with a few papers spread across the surface and a small station for owl post was setup on the shelf above the desk with a very familiar white owl sitting on it.

"Hedwig!" Harry shouted and made his way over to the bird only for it to turn her head away from him. "Oh come on girl don't be like that." Harry said trying to make Hedwig look at him by changing his position only for her to turn a different way. "Listen, I'm Sorry. I got angry and stormed off. I got stuck in New York but I swear every day I was there I was worried about you."

The bird actually turned and looked at him for a moment before jumping off station and land on his shoulder, rubbing her head against his. "Thanks girl." He said scratching her head with his pointer finger.

Harry sat down on part of the bed where Hermione patted at, still petting Hedwig as he did "So, Hermione, questions?"

Hermione was about to take in a breath so she could ask a marathon of questions but stopped herself. She realized asking one question at a time would probably get her more answers. Probably best to get one of the more obvious questions out of the way "Why were you in New York?"

"I got angry at the Dursleys, grabbed my trunk and just kind of ended up there."

Hermione tilted her head in confusion "How did you get there, I mean it isn't like it's a block away."

Harry grinned "Magic"

"You know I hate when you do that right?"

"Yes, yes I do."

Hermione huffed, getting a laugh from her friend. She didn't really get what she wanted from that question maybe she could reword it and get back to it later "Okay, then 'what' were you doing there."

"Honestly, no clue. After I got there I was practically kidnapped by this guy named Jay and was proclaimed his 'Deshi', I mean apprentice. It's annoying but you get use to it"

"You were kidnapped?" Hermione practically shouted making Harry jump a bit.

"I went willingly, it just happened fast. One second I was walking down the street, next I bumped into a guy who dragged me into a book store and then to his ten story house, and yes it is ten stories and I have no idea why. Anyway, the people in the building were nice, there were five of them and Sensei taught me alot"

"What did you learn?" Hermione asked almost as soon as she heard learn and that Harry was fine there.

"Mostly about magic in other countries, how to combat it, and I learned a few… tricks I guess you could call them since they aren't technically spells." Harry said shifting his shoulders lightly telling Hedwig to get off his shoulder so he could lie on the bed.

Now this interested Hermione. Magic in other countries was something she never even thought about looking up. She wondered how it was different, what this magic could do. She was practically drooling in curiosity.

Harry smiled as he watched Hermione's face hold back it's excited and curios expression. That's his 'Mione, wants to know everything and has no idea what to do with it once she has it. Right now she's smart and ambitious, just no real direction. A sponge for information with no clue what to direct it at. He figured when she finally did find her path she would hit it hard and make something of herself.

After Hermione composed herself she went on to question him on his new 'tricks'. Harry scratched the back of his head "Well, he only taught me three things. And I'm not really good with them yet. So…"

Hermione grumbled about out that he was lazy and Harry laughed making the two of them fall into silence. It wasn't awkward like on the train but easy and comfortable. Harry slide off the bad and sat on the floor leaning against the mattress. He sighed to himself and wondered when he was going to say what he came to say. He came here for a reason and it wasn't for a little talk about what he learned in New York.

Figuring now was better than never Harry took in a breath and turned to his best friend. "Hermione," He started gaining the attention from his friend. He paused for a minute longer and wished he had a pre-prepared way to say this. "Remember how I use to be, remember how I changed."

Said girl gave him a 'well duh' look but went along and said yes "Well I lied when I said it was treatment. Well what happened did fix it but no it wasn't any form of treatment." Hermione looked at him curiously, watching emotions play on his face "You're the first person I'm actually telling this to. Others just found out and don't really have the full story." He gave a small nervous chuckle.

He took another breath "S-something happened in that damned chamber, something more than what everyone thinks. After I destroyed Riddle's book I was dying," Hermione tried to suppress a gasp at the information but a tiny one came out "My arm and part of my chest was covered in holes from the Basilisk's fangs, poison coursing through me as I laid in the creature's blood," Harry's eyes glazed over as he remembered the event, his voice hitched slightly at the memory "I actually accepted it, you know, dying. Even when Fawkes brought its bloody body on top of me and started to cry on the wounds. It helped but I was still going to die and I knew it. I remember the poison burning in my veins and how the tears in my wounds tried to cure the venom but those little moments of relief just made the pain worse. After that I blacked out, can't remember much about when I was asleep, just some fire, but when I woke up I was still alive and was feeling better than I ever felt before. My vision was better, I felt strong and I don't know, whole maybe?"

Harry gave a small smile remembering the sensation of when he woke up but it slowly turned to a frown as the memory went on "Madam Promphery did some sort of scan on me. She looked worried and went out to find Dumbledore,"

Hermione didn't mean to but she spoke up interrupting his tale "Why would she get Dumbledore? Only you and your guardian should be able to see you medical history."

Harry wasn't annoyed by the little outburst, more amused than anything. "I don't know but I can honestly say I rather it be Dumbledore looking at my medical than my 'guardians'." Harry said answering truthfully but now he was a little curious about why the nurse would tell the headmaster.

"It still doesn't make I right" Hermione said in a huff crossing her arms over her chest.

Harry shrugged and returned to his tale, feeling a little more at ease than before "Anyway Dumbledore and Madam Promfrey came back in. Neither looked real happy or comfortable." Harry's voice trailed as he once again stuck on how to explain this "Dumbledore explained to me that, that whatever happened in the chamber changed me. He said the combination of Phoenix tears, Basilisk venom and the three of our blood mixing together. He says that in some sort of blood magic or something similar caused a chain reaction changing me."

Harry noted Hermione's worried looking face as he took a breath to lay down the bomb "He told me I wasn't completely human anymore. We don't really know what I am. A bird, a snake, maybe both, I'm not sure" Harry didn't talk for a moment, not wanting to look at Hermione for a moment "It was weird you know. You don't realize it but the idea of being human is pretty important to you. And when you're not one anymore you feel… lost. Like you don't really know where you belong and you don't know what to trust." He said not sounding like the thirteen year old he was. He sounded, like he said, lost and sad.

Harry was about to go on but when he felt arms slowly wrap around from behind him and giving him a soft squeeze. She let out a soothing sound and did her best to rock the larger boy, but barely moved him. "It's okay Harry, it's okay"

He briefly wondered why she made it sound like she was calming a crying child and then he realized he had hot soothing tears falling from his face. He mentally screamed to himself for crying, wondering why the hell he'd break down about this. He was sure he accepted this already, it wasn't something he could change and at this point he wasn't sure he wanted to. But it still hurt, it hurt deep down somewhere inside.

He gave a little mental laugh thinking of what his Sensei would do if he caught him like this. Probably whop him in the back of the head and tell him whatever was wrong that life goes on and it'll eventually get better. Then hit him again for fun.

Harry brought his sleeve up and whipped away the tears and gave a sniff "Thanks Hermione."

She gave a sincere smile and gave him one last squeeze before disengaging the hug. She noticed that a few drop of his tears landed on her forearm, they were warm and strangely felt relaxing on her skin. She wiped them away with barely a second thought and turned her attention back to her friend.

She opened her mouth about to ask some questions but closed her mouth trying to stay sensitive to her friend. She read all the books on werewolves and vampires and all of them said that the change was rough on the person. At the time she didn't know what some of the books meant by 'the loss of self' but now she had a pretty good idea. She had questions, lots of them, but knew it was better to be as sensitive as possible in this situation.

Harry looked fondly as Hermione's face showed her trying to restrain herself. Honestly this situation they ended up in was better than he thought. He played out telling her and what would happen a few different ways and some of them weren't pretty.

When Hermione's face was turning a light shade of red from trying to hold herself back Harry took pity on the girl. Saying she could ask any question she wanted and her response to this was practically jumping in glee.

Her first few questions seemed more of mothering questions to him. Like if his appetite changed, if his balance was alright from the new height and so on. After that she asked about the physical changes. She cringed at the shedding, asked to touch his feathers saying how she wished her hair was like that, she was interested in the fangs but at the same time was a little scared of them.

She also asked questions he had no clue how to answer and wondered where she got the idea from. Like when she asked if when he teleported if he set things on fire. But her last question was one that made him feel awkward "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Harry shuffled where he sat "I was worried how you guys would react. That if I told you, you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I also wanted to try and get comfortable being whatever I am."

Hermione looked at her friend with some sympathy and a hint of being offended; she would never abandon a friend over something like that. "Well I wouldn't. If you actually told me I could have helped you. I gave you that number for a reason."

"Hey I would have called you earlier but Ron called and got my phone privileges taken away."

"He called you too? I appreciate the sentiment but I have to wonder where he got our numbers or a phone for that matter. And did he really need to shout?"

Harry shrugged "I used the phone at a gas station maybe he did something similar"

"You teleported from a gas station? You used a way of travel that involves fire near a place stocked full of explosive chemicals?" She asked in disbelief and prayed that there was no explosion.

"Hey, I went to the bathroom so it should be fine." Harry said trying to wave off her worry.

Hermione shook her head at him but decided to drop the matter.

The two talked for a while longer but were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hermione, honey, does your friend want to stay for dinner? I've made lasagna and it'll be ready in ten minutes"

Harry gave Hermione a shrug when she looked at him "Sure why not, I can check in at the Cauldron later."

"Yes mom!" Hermione yelled to her mother while Harry yelled a thank you.

"Hey Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"What's lasagna?"

A few minutes later the pair of Hogwarts students descended the stairs. Hermione said that the table in the kitchen couldn't hold everyone so they're using the one in the dining room.

Harry decided he like Hermione's house better than the Dursley's. While his 'relatives' place felt, best term he could think of was shallow, Hermione's home felt comforting. Like an actual family lived here. Harry made a note to tease Hermione about the wall filled with pictures and awards for her.

When Harry entered the dining room he noticed that three people in the room held a good resemblance to Hermione. He could guess who her parents were and who her aunt was fairly quickly. Her father was an average looking man but he had some decent height, his eyes seemed to the same shade of brown as his daughters.

Her mother, who was currently putting food on the table, could pass for an older version of Hermione. Except her bushy hair seems more in control and was nearly straight. Hermione's aunt looked a lot like her sister except for a few minor differences like height, shape of her nose and hair color. Other than that they were near twins.

The man sitting next to her aunt was a bulky looking, obviously in past years he had some good muscle but now he was carrying a pot belly. The boy next to him looked a lot like his father with his black hair and grey eyes, he even seemed to have a build like his father's from when he was younger.

And last was the girl from earlier. She had her mother's blond hair and her father's eyes and everything about her screamed to Harry 'female Malfoy'. Spoiled, think they're higher than everyone, need to be the center of attention and has something shoved very far up her bum.

"Hello everyone," Hermione greeted before gesturing to Harry "Harry," She said starting to point to her family "My father Robert Granger and my mother Emma Granger."

Harry gave a short respectful nod to both as he was too far away to shake their hands and didn't want to walk over till the introductions were done. Hermione gestured to the rest of her family "My aunt Lauran Halsey, My uncle Jacob Halsey and their kids Joshua and Sarah." Harry gave his nod again getting a strange sense of Déjà vu from when he was being introduced in New York.

Hermione gestured back to Harry "Everyone, Harry Potter."

The Grangers smiled remembering the letters their daughter sent and how she fondly talked about the boy. And even though they could tell their daughter left out bits of information from the letter it seemed this boy was always there to help. Mr. Granger stood up and held his hand out to the boy "Nice to meet you young man, we've heard a bit about you."

Harry smiled and took the man's hand. Mr. Granger was a bit shocked at how firm his grip was. A firm strong grip but still had that child like hesitation. "Thank you sir."

As Harry took a seat next to Hermione he noticed her cousin Joshua was staring at him. "What?" he asked bluntly, something he noticed he's been doing more of lately.

"Nothing just thought I've heard your name before." The boy said dismissing the feeling and asked for his serving of food.

Harry briefly wondered how a muggle could know his name but put the thought aside as he wondered how he should approach the square of sauce, cheese, and noodles. He's never eaten anything like this and didn't know how to eat it without making a fool out of himself.

He glanced over at Hermione to see what to do. He mimicked how she cut the block with a fork and knife. And with one bite he started tell Mrs. Granger how great it was. She tried to point out it wasn't anything much but he still complemented her.

While asking for another piece of the lasagna Sarah noticed something almost everyone notices eventually "Hey what's that on your forehead?"

Harry quickly told her it was a scar and prayed she left it at that since he doesn't like talking about it. But the girl wouldn't let it die "Did you do it on purpose? I mean how many people conviently have a scar in the shape of anything, much less a lightning bolt" Sarah said ignoring her cousin's gesture to stop. The whole table actually took notice Harry's discomfort and hoped the girl dropped it. Her mother even suggested she stopped.

"But mom, I'm just saying it's weird"

"I got it when I was a baby." His voice void of emotion but showed how much he didn't like talking about the subject. It was one thing to show a scar but another to talk about how you got it. And it doesn't help that half the world knew more about that scar than you did for the larger part of your life. Just because people knew about didn't mean you wanted them to bring the shit up.

Hermione shot her cousin an evil glare telling her to drop the issue and hoped the rest of the table got the message. And the issue was about to drop but Joshua clapped his hands "I got it. I finally figured out where I know you from. Dudley told me about you at Smelting. Says you go to some school for delinquents or something. Said your whole family was a bunch of freaks and that your dad got drunk and crashed. Said that's how you got the scar."

Everyone noticed the increase in temperature in the room but most put it off to the uncomfortable atmosphere. Hermione only knew what was going n because Harry told her earlier. She looked towards her friend in worry and was a little taken back at what she saw.

His feathers weren't glowing so that was a good sign and neither were any of his other not so human qualities. What shocked her were his eyes. The rest of his face was perfectly apathetic and uncaring but his eyes were different. They were angry and annoyed. The closest thing Hermione could describe in seeing them was a set of green poisonous flames just flickering in pits waiting to do some harm.

"Dudley and his family" Harry's voiced hissed as he spoke showing all how much he didn't like these people "Aren't good people. They spread lies to make themselves look better. Probably why he said that stuff at his school. Make him look tougher by putting a 'delinquent' in place. But near anything that comes out of those people's mouth are lies. Disgracing others just because they don't fit their little definition of normal." Every word Harry spoke his distaste for those people, you didn't even have to hear the words themselves just the hate rolling off the sound of his voice.

Right now the whole table felt awkward. The Helseys because their daughter brought it up and their son actually believed someone he stated himself as being a liar. And the Grangers because they know the truth about the scar and could only guess how he felt about people saying his parents died a shameful death. No matter how wizards tried to spin the tale to the Mr. and Mrs. Granger it was pretty obvious that it was really a tale of how far parents would go for their children.

"Can we please just drop it?" Harry asked both venom and desperation in his voice showing his displeasure in the whole talk. No one pushed the issue anymore and the atmosphere at the table became tense.

"So…" Hermione said trying to get some feeling back in the room "Harry. Have you done your school shopping yet?"

Harry gave her a thankful smile for trying to clear the air "No. I got caught up in other things." He said knowing full well that she knew what he was talking about "You?"

"Not yet. We just got back from France a little while ago and didn't have a chance."

"Maybe we go next week with the Weasleys?" Harry said directing the question towards both Hermione and her parents.

"The Weasley's are still in Egypt. They won't be back until late August."

Harry looked surprised "When they go to Egypt?"

"A few days before your birthday. They probably sent you an owl but you were out of town."

"I guess we can go without them. By the time they get back most of the stuff is going to be sold out." All the Grangers nodded and agreed to meet him next Thursday inside the Leaky Cauldron, a small restaurant and inn they described to the Halseys. After that the meal seemed to be in a lighter mood.

The families joked and asked the Hogwarts students about their school. They quickly explained the four houses and the changed the names of some of the classes so they made sense to the muggles. Harry complained a lot about their 'science' teacher. They also said the class schedule was more like a college schedule than anything else. Harry told them that Hermione was probably the smartest girl of their generation and said he was on his houses team. When asked what sport he described Quidditch as a modified version of rugby, something he made up on the spot but strangely it made sense.

After dinner Hermione brought him back upstairs remembering that he hadn't received his present from her yet. Harry gave her a hug seeing his very own broomcare kit and a copy of "a Handbook of do it Yourself Broomcare'. She also gave him a copy of her booklist, seeing as he had not gotten the letter from Hogwarts due to his absence in the country.

The two joked and laughed for a while longer before Harry figured it was his time to go seeing as it was nearing eight o'clock. He tucked his new books under his arm, since there were was no more room in his trunk, and let Hedwig rest on his should since he left her cage back at the Dursley's. After collecting his trunk from the den he said his goodbyes to his host. Mr. Granger offered him a ride how but Harry declined, saying he had it covered.

Harry walked far enough down the street to be out of sight of the Grangers' house and made sure he was out of sight in the trees he hid in. Once he was sure he couldn't be seen he let Hedwig to fly off and meet him at the cauldron since he didn't know if he could do this with living things yet. Harry willed his fire to take him to Loudon and landed in front of the Leaky Cauldron with only the drunk who was walking out seeing him.

Harry greeted the hunched back bartender Tom and asked for a room. To Harry's surprise the rooms offered here were very nice and comfortable looking. The Bed was even better than the one he had back in New York.

He set his trunk and books at the base if the bed and opened his window for when Hedwig arrived. As he lay in the surprisingly fluffy bed Harry set his plan up for the next day. It wasn't much just go to Gringotts because Lucy said it would be good to see his assets or something along those lines, along with going to Madam Malkins to get a few school uniforms and robes. Maybe buy a new trunk seeing as his is almost bursting at the rim.

Tomorrow was probably going to be boring, even for him.

**Hope Y'all enjoyed that.**


	7. Chapter 7

**In this story Harry started Hogwarts in 1996.**

**This ain't your average Harry Potter fic. I'm just getting that out of the way. The fun really starts in fourth year but third year is fun too. Be patient and you'll be happy. This is going to be long. Like up to seventh year long.**

**Ladies and gentlemen give a hand to my three, yes three, betas. First up the first beta Tellemicus Sundance! Now coming to you from Cali, TouGod! And last the latest beta Xadro! Give your applause. **

**Chapter seven: The list**

The next morning Harry woke up to the familiar hoots of Hedwig, who was trying to announce her arrival to her owner not caring if he was sleeping or not. Harry stretched and scratched his eyes to wake up.

Harry stood up and started to pet his owl "Hey girl. A bit late aren't you. Good hunting?" he asked as he stroked her feathers, trying to ignore the itching under his skin telling his it was that time of the week. The owl hooted in conformation and made a scowl like face at Harry when he stopped petting her. "Sorry girl I have to get ready for the day." Hedwig puffed her feathers but nodded her head.

Harry did the workout routine Jay gave him to do every morning, saying he needed to stay in shape for some of the stuff he's going to be taught later. A hundred pushups, two hundred sit ups, a hundred squats, and a few stretches. He was also supposed to do some running but he figured he could wait till he was at Hogwarts. That is what Jay called 'not much'. Not much caused Harry to sweat and pant. He would have practiced the forms Jay gave him for close quarter combat but Jay said 'you'll just fuck it up so don't do it unless I'm there'.

After finishing his exercises Harry tossed his trunk up on his bed with one arm and cautiously opened it, expecting it to be like the cartoons he managed to sneak when he was little where everything exploded out. Pretty possible in the magical world but no. The clothes stuffed at the top just slide off and hit the floor with a thud. He dug through the items and picked out some clothes and his toothbrush.

He then went to the small bathroom that came with his room. Not much just a toilet, a sink and a shower nozzle. Not seeing the small sample of toothpaste he expected he went back in his trunk and dug out his near empty tube, mentally putting that on his shopping list. Today he didn't really need soap so he was fine without it.

Harry turned on the hot water and let it loosen his skin a bit before peeling it off. He dumped the sheddings into the small trash pail knowing one of Tom's policies was 'don't ask don't tell'. He quickly brushed his teeth. He still wasn't used to doing the fangs as well and pulled on his clothes.

A black tang top with a blue button down shirt over top of it and a pair of tan pants. A kind of formal casual look, something Lucy taught him. He figured he should look half way presentable when facing the Goblins at the bank. Something he put at the back of his to do list because no one really liked interacting with them. They were a bit scary.

He then made his way down the stairs and went to the entrance to Diagon Alley where he forced himself to remember how to open the doorway. The Alley was not as crowded as when he went last year but it was still very crowded and hard to move through.

Harry made his first stop the trunk store and bought a larger version of his trunk. Didn't take long and it wasn't that expensive. Apparently they figured as Hogwarts students got older the large the trunks they needed so they made a few with a slight expansion charm on the inside for easier and more storage.

Now Madam Malkin's was a different story. She kept him there for two hours measuring and trying things on. She also took a good chunk of whatever galleons he had left. By the time he got out it was around one o'clock and he figured it was now or never to go to Gringotts.

Gringotts was a tall snow white crooked looking building that seemed to bend into the right side of the intersection it made in the street. It was kind of intimidating especially with that warning on the side that pretty much said rob us your dead.

Harry did his best to seem confident as he walked into the building but this was his first time going to any bank alone and he was a bit nervous. The inside seemed old and grand in design. Chandeliers shedding light to the room as the goblins did their work, a few patrons walked around finishing whatever business they came to do.

Harry nervously made his way to the nearest empty clerk station and asked the annoyed looking goblin if he could have a list of his assets. "And what would be the reason for asking for these records?" the goblin asked with a slight accusing and angry tone to his voice.

Harry shuffled his feet a little but kept eye contact to show his respect "A friend of mind said it was a good idea to check these things eve once in a while just to see what I have or something like that. And I've never done it before so I thought it might be a good idea."

The goblin's look softened a bit and he nodded his head. He took out a piece of paper and dabbed his quill in his ink bottle "Full name please"

"Harry James Potter"

The goblin stopped his motion for a second, looked at Harry and then wrote something on the paper. The paper then fold into itself making a paper airplane and flying off. The goblin motioned for Harry to have a seat at the far wall where chairs were lined up saying he would call him when they were ready.

Harry sat patiently in the chair for little over half an hour before a small goblin came to get him and told him to follow.

He brought Harry up a flight of stairs and down a few halls where he eventually left the boy in front of a door with the word manager written across it. He knocked on the door and when an aged voice told them to enter the goblin bowed and left Harry to it.

Harry reached towards the knob and swallowed as he turned the door open. The office seemed all business with very little room for cheer. The desk was large and was covered with a few neat stacks of paper work along with some files. Sitting behind the desk was the oldest looking goblin Harry has ever seen, not a very large margin but still the oldest. His skin was wrinkled and was turning into a pale green color, his white hair slowly falling out a few liver spots showing on the balding area.

The goblin looked up and greeted Harry motioning him to the chair in front of his desk "Hello mister Potter, my name is Gnarl. I am one of the managers at this branch off Gringotts. I understand you wish to see your assets. May I ask why you would make such a request and why you haven't done it before?"

Harry sifted nervously in the goblins stare "A friend of mine said it would be a good idea to see what I have. I thought it sounded like a good idea."

The goblin nodded his head saying that it was a wise idea and brought out a black quill. He handed the quill to harry and told him to write his name on the piece of paper that he provided for him, saying he did not need ink to write. Harry did as he was told and started to write on the paper.

As he wrote Harry felt an itch at the back of his. Once he finished writing he looked at the paper and noticed the letters were written in a blackish red color and the words seemed to steam a bit.

"First time that has happened." Gnarl said as he leaned over, inspected the steaming letters.

"Is that bad?" Harry asked, worried he did something wrong.

"We shall see." The goblin said still staring at the paper. After a few second underneath where Harry had written his name came the word 'Truth' in green letters. "Apparently not, just odd."

Taking the paper away the goblin apologized "It was just a check we have encase someone comes in to steal from another's account by impersonation or polyjuice." Harry nodded his head accepting what he said, understanding why they would have such measures. "Now what would you like to know?"

Harry opened his mouth then closed it. He just realized he wasn't sure what he wanted to know. He was only doing this because Lucy told him to; he had no idea what he was doing. The goblin seemed to notice and let out a small chuckle.

"How about I give you an overall summary? Does that sound good to you?"

Harry nodded and the goblin grabbed a file near him. He flipped through the pages for a few moments and then laid the file in front of him. "Since you are the last main branch Potter you inherit your family vault in the lower catacombs along with your father and mother's joint vault and the school trust vault they put to the side fourteen years ago. I can have accurate counting's of those for you within the hour as well as copies of the keys to the vaults" The goblin made a quick note on a piece of parchment and like before it folded into itself and flew out the room.

"Fourteen years ago but I just turned thirteen."

"True but it is common practice for the more well off families to put money to the side for their children's school funds. Now continuing there is also the home in Goddric Hallow that they owned but that has been turned into a national monument if I'm not mistaken. Anything else should have been stated in their will."

"Will?"

"Yes their will, again common practice twenty years back where the wizarding world was at war. They printed out three wills one for each one of their deaths and the possible demise of them both." The goblin said easily before turning into a serious and slightly peeved tone "Are you to say you have not heard or read any of these?"

"No sir, I have not." Harry said trying to stay composed.

"Most troubling. Someone in the lower end is in trouble. A lot of it." The goblin mused before moving through the folder he had went through earlier. After a minute of searching he came out with three opened envelops and handed them to Harry.

Harry carefully took them from the goblin, rubbing each one affectionately with his thumb. He slowly took out the first letter that was marked James Potter and read. It pretty much said he left everything he owned to Harry, his wife. Giving some money to a few people he has never heard of but he recognized the last name Longbottom. The end of the letter told Harry not to give his mother too much trouble and for someone named Sirius to watch over them.

Harry felt a mixture of happy, sad and confusion. Happy that his father seemed to care about him, sad because he wasn't really here and confused because he had no clue who this Sirius person was.

He read his mother's next. It went along the same lines as his father's just different destitutions to whom and what they got. The end she sent her love to her son and husband, she also begged someone named Amelia not to "Allow her son to turn into another one of those idiots". Harry got the same feeling as he had from reading his father's, only wondering who Amelia was this time.

Harry wiped his face as an attempt to stop the tears he knew were about to start falling. Taking a quick sniff Harry pulled the last will out and hardened his resolve not to cry.

This letter went like the others. Giving about the same to everyone the previously mentioned and again asking their friends to watch over their boy. In this one though they gave him some life lessons and advice before saying they were sorry for not being there for him.

Harry was biting down into his lip with his front teeth trying to control his sobs. Gnarl looked at the boy with some sympathy, unlike what most people thought goblins had emotion. Sure they acted spiteful towards most humans but only in return. They believed heavily in 'an eye for an eye'. They did not believe in cheery customer service, just getting the job done as well as possible. But they too knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

After Harry managed to compose himself he flipped to the last page of the will, expecting a p.s. of some sort, only to see something strange. It was a list of names.

"Um, Gnarl, sir, what is this."

The goblin leaned from where he sat once again so he could look at the sheet of paper Harry was talking about "Ah. That would be a list of guardianship. Again common practice during the last wizarding war for anyone with children. It's the list of people your parents trusted enough to take care of you when they died."

Harry bit back some sadness and read the list over again tracing over every name.

Sirius Black (godfather)

Amelia Bones (godmother)

Remus Lupin

Alice Longbottom

Frank Longbottom

Peter Pettigrew

Six names, he read them over and over not seeing one mention of Petunia or the Durslys on the list. He felt anger boiling up in his veins. Why was he sent there? Why was he sent to live with people who hated his guts? And where were these people his parents trusted so much?

Apparently he must have voiced these out loud because Gnarl one again leaned over and started to speak as he looked at the list "I do believe four of them have an excuse."

Harry looked up at him waiting for the answer while being mildly impressed with his ability to read upside down. "Peter Pettigrew is dead, the Longbottoms were tortured into insanity and Black is in jail for mass murder of twelve including Pettigrew." Both the statements and the way he said it sent chills up Harry's spine. How can someone talk so casual about death and insanity like that?

Shaking the chills off Harry asked what about the other two. "I'm not sure of their excuses and I don't know much about Mr. Lupin but Madam Bones is the head of Aurors in the Ministry."

Harry took in a few deep breaths and directed his anger as Jay taught him during his lessons. He directed it to finding Madam Bones and Mr. Lupin and asking both of them to their face "why?" Jay was right directing your anger towards something other than yelling helped.

He just calmly asked where the Ministry building was located, he was surprised to hear that the entrance to the Ministry of Magic was an out of order pay phone barely three streets away. Gnarl even gave him the number to enter and the floor number of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, knowing full well what the boy was planning. Harry would have left then but Gnarl asked him to stay so he could receive the key to his vaults. While he waited he asked for copies of the all the documents and wills they looked over today figuring they would be useful but really doing so it gave some inkling that he knew what he was doing. The goblin just held out another file saying that most who do this ask for their own copy, he also said he could keep the original wills if he wished.

Ten minutes later a small goblin walked in holding a small wooden case. Harry took it and opened the case up seeing two keys of different designs and a regal looking ring.

Harry pocketed the keys but raised his eyebrow at the ring and asked the manager "That is the key to your lower vault. Many of the old families choose to have their family ring tuned to be a sort of magical key. So only that ring or goblin magic can open your vault."

Harry looked at the ring again in a new respect, now knowing it was the ring of his ancestors, the ring his father wore. He inspected the swirling design that curved around the golden band stopping at the flat plate where the Potter coat of arms laid.

The center of the shield shaped crest held a small ruby that separated the left side from the right. The top left corner held what looked like elk antlers crossed over one another with a sword weaving in-between the free space. Next to that was a griffin standing proud with its head to the side and wings spread wide. Bellow that was what seemed to be hammer crossing a farmer scythe and next to that was what seemed to be a horned wolf with his teeth bared to the ready.

The ring in general seemed large and proud. Too large actually, he wasn't sure if it was going to fit his finger. He tested the ring size by sliding it onto his left middle finger. He was slightly disappointed when he found it was too big and loose to wear until it started to shrink and wrap around his finger.

He was about to ask the Gnarl but got a look that said 'you're not going to ask me how a magic ring did that' look, well it didn't say it that nicely. Harry thanked the goblin and stretched his hand out to the old goblin that looked at his hand for a moment before taking it and giving a firm handshake.

After Harry left Gringotts he raced back to the Leaky Cauldron and walked out the muggle entrance, not seeing the need to teleport somewhere so close. He pushed his way through the British streets and ran across the lanes, arriving at the out of order telephone booth in less than ten minutes. He entered the booth sliding the door behind him and typed in the numbers 62442 or MAGIC. Once he finished typing the numbers in the booth he felt that sensation in his stomach one gets when going down on an elevator. Once the sensation left he noticed he wasn't outside anymore but in the middle of a very crowded entrance way.

Following the crowd Harry found himself in the middle of a grand layout. The floor was a dark hardwood making the sound of the feet all the louder and helped echo some of the voices. Two or three grand fountains sprayed their waters in their displays of the peacock blue room.

Harry followed the crowd barely hearing the news vendor yell about an escaped convict and an up in magical creatures in the area of Surrey. He made his way to what looked like a booth of some sort with a wizard checking people's wands before they went. Some people just flashed a badge or a card but many got their wands looked at.

Harry showed the wizard he had no wand, he figured if he got in trouble he'll just use his fire to get out of there, and moved on. When he found the lifts he saw something similar to the airplanes the goblin's used hovering over the occupant's heads. Harry pressed the button for the second floor and patiently waited for the lift to take him there.

Harry noticed most people were pulling at their collars as if uncomfortable with the room temperature so he tried to take some deep breaths to calm down.

When the doors opened Harry strutted out trying to keep his cool the best he could. He asked one person the way to the Auror's department and followed the way they pointed. He soon found himself in an area where near everyone was wearing a blue robe, something he knew that magical law enforcement wore.

He was about to look around for Bones' office but he heard someone trip and fall near him and he went to help the person up. "You okay?" He said grabbing one arm and gently lifting the person up.

"Wothcher, thanks." She said as she rubbed the part of her butt she fell on. Harry had a mild blush as he watched her do so. Harry also took the moment to take a look at her. Bubblegum pink hair slightly spiked, green eyes the same shade as a shamrock, a round face, a nice curvy petite figure. She was gorgeous but something about her seemed, off, maybe fake.

'Still looks good though' he thought licking his lips slightly tasting the room and the girl. He totally ignored the room's musty smell and focused only on the girl's. Past the flowery perfume he could smell cinnamon and honey, she also smelled a bit like this area telling she's been here a lot.

After she finished rubbing her bum she looked up and smiled at Harry "Thanks for the help. Most people just let me lay there for a while. The names Tonks, just Tonks" she said the last part a bit darkly and raised her hand for Harry to shake.

"Harry." He said not wanting to be held up anymore. "Um, Tonks, do you know where Amelia Bones office is?"

"Course I do. She's the boss after all. Here I'll show you." She said starting off in seemingly random direction. When she noticed Harry wasn't following her she grabbed his arm and started to pull him pass the series of cubicles and down a hall. And then past another set of cubicles and they found themselves in front of thick wooden door with golden letter placed across it. It read "Amelia Bones, Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"And here we are!" The girl said cheerily gesturing grandly to the door. Harry thanked her and took a breath to ready himself. He knew he was going to need to be a hundred percent for this and he couldn't let his emotions cloud him too much with this.

Some thoughts along the lines of 'Oh shit, why am I doing this' crossed his mind briefly but when he clutched the folder in his hand he started to settle himself.

Apparently he was standing there for a while because Tonks asked if he was going to knock on the door anytime soon. Harry briefly wondered why the girl was still there but ignored it in favor of knocking.

There was an almost instant come in from behind the door and Harry followed the instruction. As he entered the room he slightly impressed. It wasn't a big office but still it wasn't a small one. The walls were painted in a royal blue color and there was a set of windows in the back. Her walls also seemed decorated with a few awards and degrees. Three wooden near ceiling height filing cabinets solidified the image that this was a working place.

Sitting behind a large wooden desk that had a few documents neatly organized on top with a few picture frames of family and friends sat Amelia Bones with a bit of a shocked look on her face. She was a stern looking woman with a square jaw and her nearly all gray red hair tied up in a bun. Her right eye had a monocle on, Harry never got the purpose for them but it made her look official.

"James?" the shocked woman said in a low voice before shaking her head and realizing all the differences. Such as height, age, no glasses, eye color and last but most important James was dead. So the only person who could look so much like him was his son. But he was supposed to be her niece's age, barely over thirteen not looking like he was fifteen or older. Then again that scar was hard to deny.

"Mr. Potter." She said politely and in a business like tone "People usually file an appointment to see me but since this is the first time I will let it slide. So what may I ask do I owe this pleasure?"

Harry glanced over towards the pink haired girl who seemed a bit stunned and back to Madam Bones "its private ma'am"

Amelia nods her head and turns to Tonks "And why are you still here trainee?"

Tonks shook her head for a second breaking her brief stunned state and stood to attention "Ma'am. I found him walking in the lobby. He seemed rather upset and was looking for you so I figured I would show him where you were and if any confrontation happened two wands were better than one. Ma'am"

"A few faults with that but it was a decent plan. You should have verified him as a threat first and if so gotten back up instead of showing him where your leader is. Especially if he came to do her harm." Tonks let out a disappointed 'yes ma'am' before Amelia continued "That's okay. You're just starting your second year of training so it's understandable to make mistakes. You are dismissed." Tonks saluted and left the room, closing the door behind her.

After Tonks left Amelia gestured to one of the two chairs in front of her desk for Harry to sit in. Harry took up her offer and sat stiffly in the chair never breaking eye contact with her. "So what is your business here today Mr. Potter?"

"Just one question ma'am. I only came here for one question." Amelia was intrigued by this. Someone comes all the way to see the head of a department at the ministry just to ask one question, nearly unheard of. Demands, reviews, interviews, ect, sure but just a question?

"So what's your question Mr. Potter?"

Amelia watched as emotions played on the boy's face before he asked "Why?"

Amelia waited a few second for him to elaborate but he didn't so she said "I'm afraid I don't understand Mr. Potter, could you please explain."

Harry slammed the file from Gringotts on her desk "Okay, screw controlling and directing my anger! You know damn well what I mean! It's all there in their wills in their list, they ask you. They made you my godmother and you let me rot at the Dursleys'! So I'm asking you. Amelia Bones! Why didn't you do a damn thing?!"

Amelia was stunned at the outburst but ignored the young man in favor of looking at the folder he just slammed on her desk. She calmly flipped through the papers reading each one at her normal pace, skipping all the financial information as it wasn't her business. When she found the three envelopes she seemed to slow down.

Harry forced himself to stay quite as she read over the wills, her face never changing. After reading the third envelop she gently placed them down on the table and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes scrunched slightly as if she was concentrating on something, soon after her face became pressed into a scowl.

When she opened her eyes she swore under her breath and stood up. She grabbed the folder off her desk and started to move out the room, motioning for Harry to follow. They walked through cubicle area again and went to the lift, only staying on for one floor and were straight out again.

They don't talk as she guides them into an office area labeled "Oblivator Headquarters". Amelia marched up to one of the nearest workers and said they had a possible "code 28" which made the worker hurry off after someone.

Harry was about to ask what was going on but the worker came back with an elderly looking man. He wasted no times with introductions "Who's the victim?"

"Me" Amelia said not flinching. The man nodded his head and directed her towards his office saying it would be easier there. She motioned Harry to come as well, telling whoever the old man was that this involved him as well.

Harry stood near the entrance to the room while Amelia leaned back in the man's chair. The man raised his wand about to do something but Harry's voice stopped him. "Can someone please explain to me what's going on here?"

Amelia barely turned her head to look at him as she answered "All Aurors and high ranking positions have been trained to tell when they have been oblivated, as it might have been a criminal running away or someone trying to cover something up. These memories are not truly erased just blocked or filtered. Most of them look fuzzy and are undecipherable when you try to remember that certain event. A Code 28 is when someone in a high rank has had their memory tampered with and they don't remember agreeing to it" Harry just nodded still not fully understanding what was going on but had a better clue now.

Amelia gave the man a nod telling him to continue, he nodded back and swished his wand around a bit earning him a dull silver light at the end of his wand, He placed on hand on one side of Amelia's head and held his wand to the other letting the silver light enter her mind.

The light felt cold as it washed over her mind finding the fuzzy memories and bring it up front. As the haze around the memories disappeared she slowly recalled it all. Her waiting in St. Mungo's waiting room, at the edge of her seat waiting for her best friend's baby to be born. Across the room she sees James Potter pacing across the room looking towards the door like he wanted to be in there and pacing along with him was Sirius Black. She didn't know if he was doing it for mocking or if he was just as worried as his friend. Remus seemed to be taking it the best out of all of them as he was just leaning back in his chair and reading a book. Peter, well he was Peter and was shaking nervously.

Frank and Alice would be here but Alice gave birth to a baby boy just the other day and is resting while Frank is with her. So it was just the five of them waiting. She briefly wondered if she was going to this much of a wreck waiting when her sister-in-law gives birth not long from now.

After a few hours of waiting Remus lost his composure and joined his two friends in the pacing. Amelia was sure the three of them were going to wear a hole in the floor. Soon a nurse came in saying that they could see Lily as long as they were quite.

The five of them enter the room finding that someone expanded it so they could all fit. Laying on the bed was a tired but extremely happy looking Lily Potter. In her arms was a bundle of blankets with a very pink baby's face sticking out.

James took a seat next to her kissing her forehead and looking fondly at his new child. "So what are we going to name it? If he's a boy I say we call him James junior and if she's a girl how about Rose?" He asked fondly.

Lily used as much energy as she could to smack him on the arm "How about Harry, since he is a boy and James can be his middle name." James said the child's full name out loud as if testing it and nodded happily.

"Amelia," Lily started gaining her attention "We were wondering if you'd be his Godmother."

"Same to you Sirius only the bloke version." James says with a smile.

Amelia was taken aback by this. Sure Lily was her best friend but she never figured she would place this honor on her. She looked at Sirius to see how she should react but like always Black goes overboard, looking like he was on the verge of tears and was going to hug them. She just turned back to her friends and said yes, not realizing how emotional her voice sounded.

After that memories of her going over to play with her godson and scheduling play dates between her niece and the boy came up. She even remembered bottle feeding the boy.

The next memory came a few days after Lily and James death along with Black's imprisonment for mass murder and the Longbottom's torture to insanity. Her niece was recently placed into her care after her brother and sister-in-law were killed by the death eaters a few weeks ago. But she knew she had another child that was her responsibility, the one that everyone was proclaiming the Boy-who-lived. But none of them seemed to care where he was or even knew, they just kept on celebrating.

She knew of one man who might know, Dumbledore. If he didn't know the boy's whereabouts then no one did. So she hired a baby-sitter and apperated to Hogsmead where she made the long walk to Hogwarts. Amelia walked through the familiar halls on a mission, one she wouldn't waste time saying her greetings to every ghost and professor that walked by.

She walked up the spiraling stair case to meet up with the gargoyle watching over the Headmaster's office. She didn't know the password so she just threatened to blow it up and let her wand show the bright light of the exploding curse just ready to be realized. The gargoyle quickly moved out the way and she walked the steps up to the Headmaster's office.

She walked into the strange room, not paying mind to all the trinket, books or paintings just walked over to the desk where Albus Dumbledore sat. "Ah, Amelia, to what do I owe this pleasure to?"

"I am here to see if you know the whereabouts of my godson, Harry Potter."

Dumbledore's face turned into a grim expression "Yes I do Amelia. He is with his aunt and uncle. He is very safe where he is."

"And he'll be just as safe at my home. I made a promise to Lily that I would take care of her son if anything happened to her or James and I plan to keep my promise."

"Amelia, it is not that simple. I have placed bloodwards over the home. This way no left over Death Eaters can get to him and he will stay safe."

"Bloodwards? I thought all of James family died." Amelia said before thinking for a moment "Oh no. You didn't. You left him with Lily's sister!" Dumbledore didn't say anything but his silence was enough "She hates magic! And I doubt her husband would be better! I still remember visiting her home back in fourth year and sister yelling at us, calling us freaks! And you left Lily's son with her!"

"Amelia, please understand this is for the best."

"No it is not!"

Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked over towards her "Amelia, I can understand your upset but this is for the best. No one with ill intent towards the boy can enter the property as long as love exists in that home."

"Only one problem, there will be no love in that home."

"Nonsense. He is family and they will treat him well." His voice made it sound like he actually believed that no matter what if you're related by blood you would automatically love each other.

"It doesn't work like that Headmaster. Now tell me where my Godson is." Dumbledore let out a sigh and raised his wand so quickly that Amelia didn't see him grab it.

"I'm sorry Amelia but this is for the greater good." And with that a bright white spell left his wand.

Harry watched the whole ordeal. He watched as the man placed the light into the woman's head and watched as her face went through a series of emotions. First nervous, then happy, then sad, then determined and last pissed. He had to step back when she opened her eyes "THAT BLOODY WANKER!"

Amelia rose from her chair as she shouted and gritted her teeth. She turned to the now cowering wizard "What are the chances I can use that in court?"

The man gulped "None. As you know Madam Bones, the Wizengamot does not accept tampered with memories as evidence no matter who it is. Even if it was a recovered memory."

Amelia gritted her teeth again and then took in a deep breath to control herself. She asked the old id she could borrow some paper. When he said she could she quickly wrote two quick notes and let them turn into planes before turning to Harry. "Come on. We got work to do."

As harry followed her out of the room he asked what she wrote on those pieces of paper before they flew off. "One was to tell everyone that I won't be in for the rest of the day and the other was requesting guardianship forms on my desk within twenty minutes or someone will be fired."

Harry's jaw nearly dropped. He just came here to get some answers not get adopted "Wait. I just wanted to know why you didn't do anything not get bloody adopted."

"First off, watch your mouth. Second the only reason why I couldn't do anything is because when I went to find you the wanker decided it was best to erase the fact I was ever your godmother from my head." Amelia grits her teeth as she showed her displeasure with the whole thing "And now that I got my memories back I plan on keeping my promise to your mother."

At this point Harry realized it was best to just go along with it. She seemed genuinely angry about this whole thing and seemed to want to set things right. Besides, his instincts were telling to just go with it, something that has been serving him well so far. And at the least he got a place to stay for free for the next few days. He had money, he knew that but after years of going without it he was a little reluctant to spend it.

When they were halfway back to Amelia's office Harry realized something "Um, Madam Bones." Harry said trying to be polite "If someone tampered with your memory, who did it?"

Amelia looked at her soon to be and should have been charge and contemplated if she should tell him. Harry had the right to know but he would run into Dumbledore during his stay at Hogwarts and the man was known to be a master of the mind arts so he'd find out Amelia was investigating him. Then again the news of The-Boy-Who-Lived being adopted by the head of Magical Law Enforcement wouldn't be kept secret for very long. The press had its ways of finding out information quicker than it should around here.

"Maybe later Harry. The one who did is it is a crafty one who can find things out easily and I don't want to risk him knowing I remember. I would like to use what little head start I have against him to actually build something against him." She said not really sure she could but she would try. "And call me Amelia"

Harry gave a short nod, he got the point. Telling him would probably be a risk and he wanted whoever did this to him to pay as much as possible. So if he had to wait to hear the guys name he would.

The two stayed silent until they reached Madam Bones office where they found a still recovering messenger holding a few documents. Amelia looked through the documents and nodded her head verifying it was what she wanted before she sent the man away. Noticing she still had Harry's Gringotts folder she returned it to him and lead them to the floo chambers.

Amelia told him the name of where they were going and he raised an eyebrow "The Ministry Garage? You guys actually drive to work?"

"Useful those muggle vehicles. Get you where you need to go and keep you warm. Not to mention they can carry more than two people." Harry couldn't tell if she was joking with that comment or for real. He just got in the fire place and tossed the floo powder down leaving the room in a flash of green flames.

Flooing felt similar to using his flame to travel but it didn't feel as… natural. It's hard to explain how he felt. It was so similar but felt wrong somehow.

Stumbling out the fireplace Harry found himself in the middle of a small parking garage that could only hold probably twenty cars, only six spot were taken at the moment. Harry idly wondered why there was a fireplace in the middle of a garage but put it the fact it was built for wizards. And most wizards were strange in their ways, and just seemed to stranger the stronger they got. Dumbledore and Jay being his case and point.

Amelia came out of the flames a few seconds after Harry, briefly stopping to wipe the ash off her clothing. Harry followed her as she started to walk, wondering which car was hers. But she didn't stop at any car she just kept on walking.

Harry jogged a bit to catch up to her "What about your car?"

"I never said I had a car. We just had to get out of the Ministry to appreciate away. Coming here was just simpler than anywhere else." Harry made an o shape with his mouth showing that he got it. "Where do your aunt and uncle live?"

"4th Private Drive, Surrey. Why?" Harry thought for a few seconds and it dawned on him "Oh no. We aren't going there. I left that place and I'm never going back."

Amelia gave him a look of sympathy "You don't have to go in. Just show me where the house is. It'll only be for a few minutes, I just need to get them to sign some documents and we will be gone." Harry gave a small nod and Amelia placed her hand on his shoulder making the both disappear with a small pop.

When they popped again, now in a familiar looking neighborhood, Harry absent mindedly rubbed his stomach trying to make sure he didn't puke. He hated all manners of magical transport that weren't his flame but he had to use them.

Amelia looked around the empty street and wondered how these muggles could tell their homes apart. Most of them looked the same, plus or minus a porch that was the same as the other porches. Apparently Harry could tell the difference since he led her straight to number 4 in less than two minutes.

"I think I'm going to stay out here if you don't mind."

Amelia nodded her head and walked up to the door and rang the bell. A few seconds past before she rang again, this time getting a shrill voice yelling that they were coming.

When the door opened Amelia put on her best stern face and stared into a familiar face "Hello Petunia."

The housewife's face scrunched for a second before recognizing the face in front of her "You! What do you want?"

"I just need you and your husband to sign a few things and I'll be gone." She said holding up the documents in question.

"I won't sign any…" Amelia not in the best of moods didn't feel like dealing with this. So she drew her wand and placed it on the woman's neck.

"Just get your husband, sign these papers and I will be gone" she took a step poking the woman in the neck and forcing both of them inside. Amelia shut the door and Petunia yelled Vernon's name.

The fat man stumbled in with a look of horror as he saw his wife's predicament. He was going to do something about it but the violent pink light shining at the tip of Amelia's wand stopped him dead.

Amelia looked at the man in disgust and wondered how Lily's sister could have such poor taste in men. "Just sign these papers giving custody of Harry and I'm out of your hair"

That seemed to perk the two's interest as Vernon snatched the paper out of her hand and quickly found every spot they needed to sign before passing it to his wife who did the same thing. "Now go!" Vernon near demanded of the woman.

Amelia didn't leave immediately; she just stayed there for a few seconds more to look over the paper work. She turned to one page and turned the paper work back to the Dusleys "You missed one"

After singing the page they missed Amelia left the house. She looked around a bit wondering where Harry was before spotting him at the far end of the street. Somehow his owl found him and was resting on his forearm as he petted her feathers. He looked almost regal the way he did it. It wasn't the way he stood or how he looked. It was just the air that he put off.

She smiled at that. His father put off a similar air about him. The difference was that while James had the feeling of a prankster Harry came off as a survivor. She figured that might have been something Lily passed on to him as she was never known to take any crap from anybody.

Amelia coughed to get his attention. Harry gave her s slight smile and leveled his arm so his owl could get to his shoulder. "Done?"

"Yes. Anything in there you need to pick up?"

"No. Most of my stuff is in my trunk at the Leaky Cauldron."

Amelia gave him a nod and told him that they would be going there and then home.

'Kidnapped twice in one month. That must be some sort of record' Harry thought to himself before shrugging 'I might as well go with it' Amelia then grabbed his free shoulder and they appreciate away

**Okay that coat of arms basically means that the Potters were a proud family that started off as workers, then warriors and then became nobility (Earls, Dukes and such). It says the are strong, brave and honorably as well. Basically they were a knight like family.**

**Hope y'all enjoyed. I have no witty comments, theories or any of the other crap I usauly put at the bottom here. So till next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry if the last chapter was cliché to some of y'all but trust me it gets better, I think. It should. It might not. And I tried to find all my apparate problems but spell check fucks me up. **

**Also, I honestly love criticism, so keep it up. It helps me grow. Without pain or disappointment you never get better at anything.**

**Chapter eight: Home?**

The house Amelia brought him too was mildly impressing. Not as big or as strange as the Burrow, it didn't give off that imposing feeling of Hogwarts, and it wasn't as, well it wasn't anything like the building in New York. It was just a three story building that looked like those mansions you see on the cover of magazines. The house seemed rich, but it had that homey feeling you get when you know a family actually lived there.

Amelia noticed his stare at the building like he was inspecting it and spoke her opinion. "It looks big but only Susan and I live here now with a few house elves. The rest of the Bones family used to live here too, but the war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers took them away." Her voice was sad as she said the last sentence with a hint of anger at the name phrase. Harry gave her a soft nod showing that he understood.

Harry heaved his new trunk up the stairs as he followed Amelia to the front door. His old trunk was sold at the trunk shop at Amelia's suggestion to have a few extra galleons and sickles in his pocket. As they walked into the house Amelia called the name Missy and a faint snap was heard a moment later. A small female house elf scurried out of whatever room she appeared in.

"Mistress is needing something?" Unlike the last house elf he saw this one looked like it was well taken care of. It wore clothes that weren't a beaten up pillowcase and it wasn't beating its head against the wall. This one seemed happy and actually had some self control and poise to it. But the eyes were about the same, they had an excited look in them. Harry didn't get how someone could be excited to work but to each their own.

"Yes. This young man is going to be living with us from now on. So could you please place his trunk in one of the empty rooms?" Amelia asked kindly making the little maid jump for joy before running over to the trunk and pop away with it. Harry gave Amelia a strange look. "She really likes working," she answered before gesturing him to the den area.

She took a seat on a rather comfortable looking arm chair and gestured him to the couch across from her. The two sat in an awkward silence for a while before Harry asked where Susan was.

"She should be at her friend Hannah's house for a few more hours. She might not come back tonight. You know, spontaneous sleepovers and all that." Harry nodded his head and they fell into the silence again. "So, tell me about yourself."

"Um, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Anything," Amelia said as she put her head in her hand and mumbled "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"You actually thought this through?" Harry asked with some humor in his voice making Amelia smile back at him.

"No. I just figured it would be easier than this," She said rubbing her temple wondering how she could get herself in such a mess. "So how do you like Hogwarts?" she tried, thinking this might get them somewhere.

Harry wanted to talk and get to know this woman, but Hogwarts at the current moment gave him some mixed feelings. It was the first place he could honestly say he considered at home, but at the same time he was put in the most danger he was ever in, not to mention the last year changed him forever.

"It's good," he started as he stroked his new ring with his thumb. "Hate potions though. Teacher's a downright git. Maybe we'll get a good Defense teacher this year. Last two weren't that great." Amelia nodded her head remembering hearing how her little Susan's hero hero, Lockheart, wasn't all that he was cracked up to be. "Qudditch is a blast though," Harry stopped that thought and wondered if he could still play or if it was against the rules for a non-human to play "Anyway, I just want to go the year without some sort of attack."

"Attack?"

"You know, the troll first year, a huge Basilisk last year," He had a hard time getting out the last part but he said it. He also made sure he didn't mention Voldemort just because people would think he was crazy. "Regular customer in the Hospital wing I am." He smiled cheekily at his own comment trying to add some humor to the situation.

Amelia seemed to take it but on the inside she took note of this. Her department never got word of this and they should have. She might be able to build a case off of this if they could get enough information on these events. The troll got a report on and it seemed like they handled it well enough from the paper work but a Basilisk, especially one that was described as huge, is not something you can just hide. Hell, how did she not hear about this through the grape vine?

They talked for a while longer. Amelia listened to his stories and smiled at the enthusiasm he put into some of the stories, but she noticed how he seemingly skipped over parts. She admitted to herself that she was a bit surprised that he was a parselmouth. It was a blood ability in magic and didn't just appear. Then again the same could be said about metamorphs and yet the best metamorphagus in the country was born to a former Black, none of whom ever had the talent, and a muggle-born.

When he got to the part of how he escaped from the Dursleys and gained an apprenticeship she loaded out with her questions and comments about strangers. Harry for his part made up bumping into Jay in town and being dragged to New York, something Amelia didn't seem all that happy about. He reassured her that Jay got an earful already but the whole group treated him nice enough, even taught him a bit while he was there.

Amelia was actually impressed by what he learned and how well he understood it. It was only a vague summary of what he learned, which wasn't that much, but what he learned wasn't usually taught till seventh year of Hogwarts or when they started the Auror academy. Even then some of the stuff he said wasn't covered much, just lightly touched and briefed. All the same, she was going to check in on this Jay Bickley. The Department of International Magical Correspondence probably had a file on the man. They had a file on any person of magic that could either be considered a threat or a possible ally.

After Harry spoke a bit about himself Amelia did so in turn. She told him what she did at work, some likes and dislikes and settled into some stories of her school days. Amelia gave Harry a small smile as she watched emotions play on his face. It was mostly a sad smile and a longing look that seemed to drift off the more she told her story. He laughed at a few of the stories where James tried to get his mother's attention.

"They were great people Harry. You would have loved them," Amelia said as she debated if she was warranted enough right to give physical contact. She decided she wasn't allowed enough freedom in their relationship yet and just let him soak in her words.

Harry gave a small nod to the statement and leaned a little bit more into his chair. "That's what everyone keeps telling me. But I still wished I could have met them." Amelia gave her own nod to this and the two sat in quite once again.

The house elf came in during the silence and poured two cups of tea asking the new member of the house how he liked his tea. After receiving his preference Harry enjoyed the taste of the first real cup of tea he has had in weeks. How Americans can drink that excuse was beyond him.

Missy told them that they received an owl from Susan saying that she would be sleeping over at Hannah's and would be back tomorrow. Amelia thanked the little elf and told her to call them when supper was ready.

After the elf snapped away to do work Amelia stood up and offered him a tour of his new home. The house was as big as he thought it was. Six bathrooms, two with showers and baths, eighteen bed rooms, one big kitchen with two houseelves making what Harry guessed would be their dinner for the night. The tour stopped when they finally found the room with his trunk in it.

A good sized room colored a light sky blue with an empty bookshelf and a queen sized bed. The room was on the second floor so it had a pretty grand view of the landscape. Amelia left the room, letting the boy settle in as he wished.

Harry didn't really know what to do. He thought of looking around the grounds but struck that idea when he remembered that he didn't know when dinner would be ready, the same with taking a nap. He figured the best thing to do right now would be to unpack. He left most of his clothes in his trunk, due to the fact he would be leaving for Hogwarts in less than a month, and placed his first and second year books on the book shelf.

Still not have been called for dinner Harry pulled out his M.I.M. book. Harry was still impressed by this book. Apparently Tyler was a genius when it comes to charms, among other things, and was able to create a mass produced arrangement of charms that worked vaguely similar to the Sorting Hat. First it gauged your magical power and only revealed the spells you could handle. Next it judged your personality similarly to how the wands at Ollivander's picked an owner and stopped you from learning anything that the writer of the book didn't deem you morally fit enough. The last piece is that any tampering with the first two charms would destroy the book in an instant and also worked as a beacon to show that someone passed the first two charms.

Apparently Harry was way above average in magical strength for his age, he didn't know if that was natural or because of his transformation, and was able to near fully unlock the first charm. And he showed that his personality was good enough to pass Jay's test.

Jay set this whole thing up so he could find an apprentice, sending a little over a thousand copies around his home country hoping to find what he was looking for. Strange that he bumped into what he wanted on the street but hey who was Harry to complain if he gets to learn.

The book itself was very educational and well written, lacking the vast amount of swearing that seemed to follow his teacher. Jay told him before that he had a talent for crafting spells but lacked the imagination to actually make them, but what he lacked in imagination he made up for in Muggle entertainment. Near every spell in the book was inspired by some form of Muggle entertainment, hence the name Muggle Inspire Magic.

But that was only half the book. The first few chapters were covering Jay's theories of magic and battle tactics, a majority of which he learned from the man himself. But he was still surprised that he didn't learn some of these things first year.

Like the fact that when using magic you drain or strain one of four things. Your magic, your body, your mind, and last your emotions. No matter what type of magic you use you drain the first but the others vary from spell to spell. The best example Jay gave him for mind straining magic was transfiguration, an art that depends almost solely on your concentration. The ones that affect your body can vary from the recoil of some spells to the use of blood to just the pure overexertion some spell required of the body. The emotions spells are too many to count with too many types, he did mention that some fire spells needed a good amount of anger to work.

Harry flipped to the chapter named 'Spells of a Galaxy Far Away' and started to read the first spell. It was similar to the Stunner spell but affected only on part of the body so it didn't need to hit dead on to be affected. The spell seemed to be based on a saying that read "Set your phasers on stun". Wand movements weren't that difficult but the down side was that the spell seemed to let off a zipping sound when fired and had an even greater glow than its cousin.

After reading the spell over again Harry decided to practice the movements. It was only two movements, bend elbow, flick wrist forward and say the incantation 'Azoar'. Harry didn't know what language the spell was, but it wasn't the usual Latin.

After practicing the simple movement for maybe seven minutes the house elf Missy came into the room telling her new master that dinner was ready.

"Thank you Missy but call me Harry."

"Missy will try Master Harry, sir." Harry flinched at the over formality of the elf but got up from his spot on the floor and followed the elf to the dining room. The room was elegant and inviting in decoration with its pearly white wall paper and golden chandeliers. Amelia was already sitting at the end of the table sipping on some tea and reading a book. Harry thought the table was unnecessarily long for only her and Susan, but then again there used to be more people living here.

Harry greeted his new guardian and took a seat to her right. Amelia folded her book closed and turned her attention to her new ward. "So how do you like your room?" she asked as a house elf Harry saw earlier brought food out from the kitchen and set it down in front of them. Steak cooked medium with steamed vegetables on the side. A little fancy for Harry's taste but hey food was food and this food looked good.

"It's cool," Harry said as he started to cut into his steak. It was the first time he ever had steak but he liked it. The vegetables were alright, he probably would have skipped over them if Amelia didn't tell him to eat them.

"Have you picked up your school supplies yet?" Amelia asked as she finished the last bit of her steak

Harry played with the last of his vegetables. "Um, no. Hermione and me were suppose to go on Thursday, if that's alright with you."

Amelia nodded her head. "It is perfectly fine. You made the arrangement before we met, so it is fine. Besides, I still haven't taken Susan to do hers so it works out." Harry nodded and hoped his friend and her family didn't mind two tag alongs.

Harry then realized there was another arrangement he made before meeting her. "Um, I made another arrangement back when I was in America" Harry hesitated a moment before moving on, "They asked me to spend Christmas with them and I already kind of agreed."

Amelia was silent for a moment. She wasn't expecting this. Sure she didn't plan ahead far enough for the holidays but she assumed he was going to stay with her during the Yule break. Maybe she could convince him to forget the Americans and stay with her and Susan. But doing that might break their relationship before it could really start. She completed her options finding the best one would be to contact these people and find a better option through negotiation.

The boy didn't take her silence as a good sign and sifted in his chair a bit, berating himself for not having more confidence. Amelia let out a breath breaking the silence that seemed to constantly follow them. "It's alright Harry but I would like to speak to this master of yours so we can find some mutual ground on the arrangement," Amelia's voice was business like similar to how she spoke when they first met, Harry didn't know if that meant he did something bad or she was just thinking.

Noticing his discomfort Amelia changed her demeanor and tried to start up some small talk about Quidditch with him. It seemingly worked as Harry stopped fidgeting in his seat and talked back to her in earnest.

After dinner the two stayed at the table trying to get to know the other anyway they could through many hard fought conversations. When Missy came in telling Amelia that the time was now nine she excused herself saying that she had to get into work early tomorrow to make up for the work she missed today. Harry nodded his head and gave a semi-quiet thanks. Despite everything, secrets hidden on both ends and time lost, it meant a lot to Harry to have someone trying to be his family.

Harry took her example and went to bed early, hoping that it would help with the time change he was still suffering from. Four hours difference doesn't seem that bad but it's still hard to get use to. The only reason why he managed to survive in New York was that his new friends there kept strange hours for their time zone.

The next morning Harry woke up early enough to give Amelia a goodbye as she walked out the door around six thirty. He decided since the Bones property was so large he would try running today. He dressed in red sweatpants with white stripes running down the sides and a black tank top. Harry remembered hearing from some of his Quidditch teammates that if you're going to eat before you work out make it about an hour before your exercise or you'll be wearing your meal. Since he wasn't hungry at the moment he decided it would be best to run first and eat after.

After going out the back door Harry did some light stretches he learned in Quidditch and imitated the running stance he saw on TV. As soon as he got a stable enough stance, he picked out a tree to be his target. The running drill he was about to do was something Jay called 'Suicides'. Basically you start at one point, pick a set goal nearby, sprint there, and then run back and then pick a goal further away and run back. The process would go on until your coach/trainer told you it was enough, or in Harry's case when his body couldn't take the abuse anymore.

Taking one last deep breath Harry sprinted towards his target. It was only ten or fifteen meters away but it was enough to get his blood pumping and adrenaline flowing. As he touched the base of the tree he set his next target and ran back to his starting point, tagging the ground before he made another mad dash to his destination. After four more times of this Harry just ran a straight line, letting his legs go as fast as they desired.

At one point he thought about stopping when he hit the forest border, but he just wanted to keep on moving. He pushed through the woods, practically gliding past the trees as he ran through the landscape. Every time a rock or a branch would trip him he would just use his flame to put him back on his feet without missing a beat.

He only stopped running when his lungs could no longer keep up with him. He looked around him and noticed he was now nearing some town, probably muggle from the looks of it. It was not even a mile away but he didn't feel like venturing into it yet. Maybe later but not yet. Now he should head back to Amelia's house and finish his workout and get something to eat.

He had a little inner debate if he wanted to run back or just use his flame to teleport close to the property. Since this was his first run he chose option b and let his flame take him near the tree that was his fifth target. He ran back inside and did his requested squats, pushups and sit ups. He knew Jay said he was too young to do it every day but he wasn't completely human so he figured he should try. By the end of it he felt his arms and knees turning to jelly and barely had the ability to stand.

He picked out a set of clothes from his trunk and lugged his way to the nearest shower. It felt amazing letting that warm water run down his sore muscles. After losing some of the tension in his muscles he started to work on his hygiene. He still found it off to be brushing his fangs.

When he finished dressing himself in blue jeans and a white T-shirt he went downstairs to get a late breakfast, or was it early lunch? One of the two. All he knew was that he wanted food.

He entered the kitchen hoping to find one of the elves he saw the other day working there, as he was too tired to make his own at the moment, but found no one working in the kitchen at the moment. Remembering how his new caretaker called the elf the other day Harry politely asked Missy to come out. The little elf came out in front of harry with a soft snap and eagerly asked her new master what he needed.

"I was wondering if I could get some food."

"Missy will make something for you right away Master Harry! What would you like to eat?"

"Um, anything's fine. I'm not that picky," Harry said wishing the little elf would stop with the master comments.

"Will sandwiches do for you Master?"

"Um, yes that'll be fine. And Missy you call me Harry, just Harry."

The little elf crossed her arms and put on a stubborn look "Missy find it inappropriate to call masters of the house anything other than that. Mistress Amelia try to change Missy's mind but no work. Respect be respect." Harry really wanted to fight back at the elf's argument but the need for food made him give into her words and wait in the dining room like he was told.

Harry only waited about three minutes for Missy to come out with the largest stacked sandwich he ever seen accompanied by a bottle of pumpkin juice. "Here you are Master Harry. You be needing anything else?"

"No, this is good Missy. Thank you."The elf gave a grateful bow before snapping away to do whatever chore she was doing before.

Harry looked at the sandwich for a moment wondering how he was going to eat it. It reminded him of one of those sandwiches he saw on a cartoon when he snuck in some time in with the television when he was younger. He picked the sandwich up and measured it to his mouth, it was at least twice the size of it. But like any teenage boy he tried to open his mouth as wide as he could before stuffing as much of the food in his mouth as he could.

To Harry's surprise his mouth could open very, very wide. Almost like he dislocated it, but he wasn't complaining as he took one big bite of the offending food. He chewed a few times before giving one large swallow. After taking a sip of his juice he repeated the process until the sandwich was gone. Letting out a dignified belch Harry picked up his bottle of pumpkin juice and attempted to carry his empty plate to the kitchen only to be stopped by one of the house elves he saw the previous day and have it practically snatched from his hands.

"Um, thank you," he called out as the elf vanished into the kitchen. He made a note to get the elf's name at some point.

As he walked up the stairs to get to his new room and read his M.I.M. book again he heard the door open with a familiar voice yelling, "I'm home!"

Harry stopped half way up the stairs and stared into the foyer. What he saw was a familiar round faced red haired girl staring back at him. Not sure what to say Harry just gave an unsure wave and a hello.

At the same moment Amelia Bones was making her way to the Department of International Magical Relations. She finished all her work from the day before and most of the work for today. She had a very strong and stable work ethic that usually had her finishing half the next day's work early, so she was usually ahead of schedule with her work and she liked it that way.

The Department of International Magical Correspondence served two major purposes among other things. One was to establish good relations with other magical communities and two was to have any and all information on anyone who would be a threat to their country. A person didn't need to be hostile to be considered a threat. In fact some of her best Aurors were on some countries list because of their skill, the same could be said for Dumbledore and any other wizard of strength. And if this Jay was at a level where he wanted an apprentice he was going to be in the books.

When Amelia asked one of the free workers for the file on one Jay Bickley, the woman froze on the spot and some blood drained from her face. "W-why would you need th-that man's file?"

"He is a close acquaintance of a friend of mine and I wanted to check to see if there is a file on him."

The woman visibly relaxed and took a breath, "I'm sorry ma'am but when the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement comes to you and asks you for a file on a man who is considered a class five threat if gone hostile you get a little worried. I'll go grab you the file." Amelia was in a bit of shock as the woman walked away. There are six classes of threat that a wizard could be. One through four are just various levels of chance that someone could be hurt, but level five was near guaranteeing someone dying with the possibility of magic being revealed to muggles. A level six was what Voldemort was considered, if not getting close to making a class all his own: Get every team possible, expect many deaths and mass injury, and have as many oblivation exeprts on standby as possible to clean up the mess the muggles just saw. Not many got classified six, maybe handful in the entire history of the Ministry, but five was pretty rare as well.

A minute later the woman came back with a thick looking folder. "I'll be back with the others."

"Wait, there are more files on this man?" The folder was already unusually thick and to have more would just be insane.

The woman shook her head. "No, but if you're dealing with Jay Bickley you usually have one of the other four close behind. They're not as dangerous as he is but they still rank in the low to high fours." Amelia quickly debated if she wanted those other files or not. But if Harry knew this Jay and those four were usually near him it would be worth the read.

After obtaining the other four files, Amelia took her new load back up to her office, now wondering why she didn't just send a plane asking for the file. As she got comfortable in her chair she opened up Jay's folder first to see a picture of said man staring back at her with the most feral grin she had ever seen in her life. Next to the picture it read -

Name: Jay Odikinyi Bickley

Age: 29

Species/ethnicity: human. Of mixed origin, half Scottish half Kenyan

Country of origin: America (New York)

The file practically read like a book from there. Citing that he worked as a mercenary specializing in body guarding, transportation and retrieval type missions and gave a brief summary of each mission they knew about. Saying that he was specialized didn't mean that it was all that he did. The file also stated that he had done assassination type missions and worked on warfront due to pay.

His record before being a merc involved time served in the American military magical division and a life studying abroad both before and after joining the corps. It also showed that he was a Natural Animagus with the form of a liger, a partially trained Yamabushi and was one of the only two hundred authentic War Mages left in the world. It was also noted that he was a spell crafter and that they would need to expect unique and unfamiliar spells if they ever faced him.

The end of the file was just like any other and served the main purpose of getting this information: Build plans and strategies to take down or apprehend said person. There weren't that many plans to go up against him though. He was a fully trained War Mage so going up against him in large numbers would be foolish as he is trained to take out large chunks of armies effectively and going up against him one on one was suicide from his Yamabushi training. His spell use was too varied and spontaneous from his talent in Spell Crafting, so they couldn't really guess what he would throw at them. All it suggested was a team of experienced Hit Wizards with a nearby team of Aurors for back up. He would be a mess to fight that's for sure but he would go down.

On the last page there was actually a recommendation to hire the man because of his skill if the normal Auror or Hitwizard couldn't handle a job or if you didn't want the mission on record. That last bit was a little disturbing but she knew many would probably call the man if a criminal who everyone knew was guilty got away. Even she would have that temptation too. At the end of the recommendation came the best ways to contact the mercenary, that being the use of the muggle device know as a telephone.

Amelia stared at the number wondering what she should do. The man's record showed that he was a powerful wizard, but it also showed that he was a hired wand. Did she really want her charge being taught by such a man? And if the other four's records were anything like this, was she going to like their influence on Harry? Thinking those questions over she thought about how Hogwarts defense education has been over the last few years and how well Harry had been taught in just two weeks. She also questioned if she could really judge a man just by his occupation and some pieces of paper.

She strummed her fingers across her desk and checked the time to see if she could finish the other four's files and still have enough time to finish her work. It took her ten minutes to get through Jay's and his was the thickest and she had four hours before her leave time came. She decided it would be best to pound out any work she had left and then come back to the files later.

Being the head of any department usually meant paperwork, lots and lots of paperwork. Truth be told she preferred being out in the field more but she had better pay and more stable hours as the Head of the Department than she ever did as an Auror. She still was able to get out there, just not as much and only if the case required her to join.

Two hours later, after a few dozen reviews and approvals, there was a small knock at the door. Amelia looked up from her files and called the person in, already having a good idea who it was. She smiled as she called out "Enter" allowing for the pink haired young woman to enter.

The young woman had a cheeky smile on as she walked into to the room "Wotcher Director. I was wondering if you were ready for lunch." The older woman smiled at the trainee. The two of them had started going to lunch together for a few months now and the two considered each other friends, something hard for a boss to do, make friends with their employees. Tonks was a nice enough girl, a bit clumsy and bubbly, but she had trouble opening up to others. The fact that everyone wanted to see what her ability could do, asking her to change into celebrities and such, probably didn't help with that. Amelia had known Tonks since she was young, but hadn't seen her much since her cousin was put in jail. When the young girl entered the program straight out of Hogwarts, Amelia decided to pull her aside one day and reminiscence with her. The two had been good friends since.

"It would be good take a break for a few minutes, give me one moment."

The young Auror nodded and waited for her superior to finish up the file she was working on. After a finishing signing the last of her approvals Amelia made her way to the door, picking up the four profiles as she went. "I hope you don't mind if I read these while we eat."

Tonks just waved her hand "Its fine. So muggle or find someplace in the Alley?" she asked as the two made it to the floo chambers.

"Let's grab something at the Cauldron. I don't feel like transfiguring my clothes." Tonks nodded and the two flooed to the old pub and took their usual table. Tonks ordered them some pumpkin juice, not tempting even butter beer while on the job, and Amelia opened one of the files she brought with her.

"What are in those anyway?" Tonks asked, taking a sip of her drink and glancing through the menu to see what she might want to eat.

"Files on some Yankees that my godson knows, scratch that, this one was born in the Philippines." Amelia took a sip of her drink as well, already planning on ordering her usual. She raised her eyebrow reading Aqua specialist but besides that not as diverse or as experienced as her friend.

"Godson?"

"It's a long story, but yes my godson. He's legally my ward now and he told me he spent the summer with these people. He apparently made plans to spend the holidays with them and I plan on talking with them, but I want to know what I'm in for."

Tonks chuckled, "Isn't that just a little bit of abuse of power?"

Amelia smirked and told her to stow it. As the two talked idle chit-chat one of the part time waitresses came up and took their orders. As she talked to her friend Amelia made great use of her ability to read and talk at the same time. Something she had to learn as she climbed the ladder, proud of the fact she made head in fifteen years and was the first woman to hold the office.

As she read the other files she was mildly impressed. While the others weren't as strong as Harry's teacher they were still powerful wizards, though they did seem more specialized than the first. And they didn't seem as bad as him either.

She hummed to herself and decided she'd best talk to at least one of these people before making a general assumption of them. But Harry said they were on some long term mission so maybe it would be for the best to push this aside for a while and call at a later time.

"You know what? You never told me your godson's name yet." Tonks gave her a goofy smile "He cute?"

Amelia shook her head for a moment, doing a small debate if she wanted to say her new ward's name out loud in public. "You met him the other day. He was that angry young man that you brought to my office."

Tonks nearly dropped her fork back onto the chicken she ordered. "You adopted Ha-"

"Nymphadora, quiet. I don't want this hitting the front page yet." The young Auror's hair shifted a few colors as she fussed over being called by her first name, but she could see how this could turn into a big deal.

"Okay, fine. Just don't call me that. I still don't see what possessed my parents to name me that." She stayed quiet for a second, "I still have that picture. You know, the one where he kept on pulling on my hair when Aunt Lily let me hold him." Amelia had a slight smile on her face obviously remembering the moment and why shouldn't she, she was the one who took the picture after all. "Do you think he'd want a copy?"

"I'm sure he'd love one," Amelia tone was soft as she spoke "Why don't you come over tonight and give it to him?"

Nyphadra's hair shifted back to her spiked pink hair as she thought it over. "Sure, what time would you like me over?"Amelia just told her to arrive anytime before eight and the two went back to their meals.

After they finished their meal the two rushed back to work, realizing they were close to over staying their lunch break. Amelia had to stay about half an hour late to finish all her work for the day, she very disappointed in herself for that.

When she got home she found herself looking on in the den with slight surprise. Her two wards were both sitting there seemingly getting along and playing a game of Wizard's chess, one that Harry was losing rather miserably. Her niece put on a smug grin, "Checkmate."

Harry did a quick scan of the board and made some hissing sounds while Susan laughed at his dismay. 'Did he just swear in parseltongue?' Amelia asked herself as she entered the room "I see you two are getting along."

Susan and Harry looked up from the destroyed board and greeted their guardian a cheerful 'Hello Auntie!' and an unsure 'Hi'. Amelia took a seat in her arm chair and asked how Susan liked being at Hannah's, while wondering how she reacted to seeing Harry and how they ended up playing chess.

Susan totally ignored the question and went straight to what she thought was important. "Auntie, Harry told me everything that happened yesterday and whenever you find the guy that did that let me know so I can show him how well I can use that spell you taught me." Amelia smiled, remembering that spell. She really enjoyed the mental image of the headmaster rolling on the ground getting the brunt of the 'nutcracker' curse.

Harry didn't know what spell she was talking about, but it made him feel good to know she had his back. Though he did wish she didn't throw that bag at him when she saw him earlier. His ears still hurt from the scream. After the whole scream and throw incident, he had explained what happened that day. Susan seemed almost as upset as her Aunt was the day before but seemed generally happy to have Harry as her new 'brother'.

Susan was pretty easy to get along with. She seemed carefree in most the things she did and took most things in stride. Plus, he was looking forward to doing the 'scary big brother' speech even if he was only older by a few months.

After asking Susan again about her stay at the Abbotts' and getting the full story, make-up practice and pillow fights included, she informed them that they'd be having a guest over sometime soon. A few minutes later they heard the doorbell ring and a house elf guided in a familiar face.

"Wotcher!" Susan got up from her seat and gave Tonks a hug. The older woman ruffled the girl's hair "How's it going Sue?"

"Same old, same old."

Tonks gave a greeting to Amelia and then slowly made her way over to Harry. She took in a breath and started to pull something out of her pocket "I'm pretty sure you don't remember this, but we use to know each other, well before yesterday. I use to visit you and your parents back when I was little and still had a few pictures from then and thought you might want a copy." Her nervousness was still there even as she handed him the wizard photo.

Harry seemed to be put in a state of shock as he stared at the photo. There was a 'human' baby him being held in the arms of a smiling little girl whose expression changed when the green eyed baby reached up and pulled her hair. Sitting next to the little girl was a familiar red haired green eyed woman giving an unsure smile as she held her arms at the ready in case anything happened.

He had such mixed emotions on this picture. First there was the longing being one of the strongest, sadness that he was no longer that child being held in the girl's arms or had ever had the chance to talk to his mother, and the last a general happiness of having another photo of her.

"Thank you." His face never left the photo as he gave his thanks. Noticing the room fell a bit in mood Harry reached his hand up and pulled some of the woman's hair.

"Ouch. Why did you do that?"

Harry gave a half shrug and smiled, "Looked fun in the photo." Tonks gave him a playful glare and laughed. After she settled down Harry asked "So how did you know my parents?"

Tonks made a face before answering "Your father was best friends with my cousin and he dragged my family to meet you guys a few times."

Amelia caught her breath as Harry asked his next question "Who was his best friend?"

Tonks seemed to know where it was going as well as she tried to ease the information into him. "Um, your godfather… Sirius Black"

Harry gave his lips a lick for a moment as he thought about the name he just heard and where he heard it before. Obviously the list from the day prior but also what the goblin said. A convicted murderer, a mass murderer who killed one of his best friends.

"Don't worry though," Tonks said seeing the look on his face "My mom is the black sheep of the family. Married a muggleborn, so the family disowned her and by extension me so no worries about me being evil or anything."

Harry gave her a smile "Kind of figured that already."

Tonks returned the smile and ruffled the boy's hair, surprised by how soft it was "So when do we wat."

The conversation between the Bones and Harry was still a bit awkward at dinner but Tonks, who decided to stay, cleared up the mood rather well. Amelia also took the time to inform Susan of their plan for two days from then, already having put in the paperwork to take the day off, which meant more work tomorrow and the day after.

An hour later Tonks left, leaving the new family to themselves. There were a few more attempts at getting to know each other before they all went their separate ways for the night.

When Harry got up to his room he decided to practice one of the three 'tricks' Jay taught him. Only problem was that the one he was about to do hurt like a bitch. It was a method to use western magic without a wand. There are two real ways to do this. The first, the more commonly known and preferred version, could only be used by powerful wizards. What they do is metaphorically wrap their magic around their hand and use that as the foci to force their magic through. It took up more energy than using a wand and could be a bit hard to control but it came in handy.

The other version, the one Harry was taught, was simpler in theory but had a lot of downsides. To use this method you needed to focus your magic through the bones of your hands, knuckles, joints, finger tips, everything, and force the power through. Harry tried this a few times in the States and the feeling could best be described as rabid feral animal the size of a car was trying to claw its way out of your hand with freshly sharpened teeth and claws. The magic was also noticeably weaker when used this way, but then again having a second way to launch a spell is useful in a fight.

Harry bit down into his teeth and raised his right hand in front of him. Taking a quick breath and forcing his magic through his bones he muttered the name of one of the first spells he learned, "Wingardium leviosa". One of the quills on the small desk of his room started to float as he forced the spell to continue.

Getting the hang of this method was easy; getting control of the pain was harder. Right now all he was doing was seeing how long he could use the simplest of spells like this and doing it longer was the mission. One that he failed as the quill dropped not even five seconds after it started floating and he was on his knees rubbing his tender hand. "I think that's all for tonight"

The next day went on pretty uneventful. Amelia went to work, Susan tried to keep up with Harry in his workout routine and failed, Tonks came over briefly during her lunch to bug them, the most interesting part of the day was probably when his owls finally caught up to him.

He relieved all the owl of their loads and gave them each a treat before shooing them away; he did not want to get on Hedwig's bad side by letting to many owls stay near him. The first letter he opened was from the Weasley's, pretty much telling him what Hermione already did. The next one was from Hogwarts giving him his book list and a notice that he could go to Hogsmead this year with parental consent, he briefly wondered if Amelia could sign it and figured he would ask her later.

The last thing delivered was a package with a note on top. The note said it was from Hagrid and that it should come in handy for next year. Being curious, he took the wrapping off the package, revealing a fleshy looking book with the title "The Monster book of Monsters". Almost as soon as he was done reading the title a spider like eye shot open from the book and the pages open with a fierce growl.

The book then somehow managed to turn itself so it could bite Harry on the hand, getting very little response from the boy, barely a wince. The book bit again and again trying to get free from his grip, but it failed.

Harry was getting annoyed with the way the book was acting and let out a low hiss like growl. The book made a yelping like sound before quivering back into silence.

Harry looked the book over before saying, "Bloody mental this book." He tossed it on his desk and placed a few of his thickest first and second year books on top of it so it wouldn't do anything later.

Putting all thoughts of the book aside, Harry picked the permission slip back up. He licked his lips slightly as he thought. It was strange but he started to lick his lips whenever he was deep in thought or in a new environment, it was kind of soothing in a way.

He did a small debate with himself as he wondered if he should confront her now or not. She probably already knew from Susan and would bring it up later if he didn't. Taking as much courage as he could, Harry made his way out of his room and towards Amelia's study where he hoped she would be. She was a workaholic, brought her work home and everything.

Harry knocked on the door to the study and got a "come in" not even a second later. The boy nervously pushed the door open. The study wasn't that big but it kept a comfy feel in decoration and the fireplace made for a nice touch, even if it was used mainly for floo.

Amelia was currently working her way through some paper work she wanted to finish before her day off the next day. Seeing Harry at the door she gave him a smile and ushered him in. "What can I do for you Harry?"

He shifted in his stance for a moment, "Um, I just got this letter from Hogwarts saying I could leave the castle and go to someplace called Hogsmead. And I was wondering if you could sign the permission slip."

Amelia gave him a soft smile "Of course I could Harry. Give it here." Sure signing a permission slip wasn't much, but it felt like the first real act Amelia had done as a guardian for Harry. And it meant a lot to Harry too, not that he just got to go to Hogsmead, but that he actually had a guardian that liked him.

The next day Harry rushed through his workout so he could meet up with the Grangers on time. Amelia looked on at him in amusement as he did so. The routine seemed good to her, all it needed was an obstacle course and it would be like the Auror boot camp, a place she hoped both her wards gave a chance.

At ten o'clock they flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and made their way into the busy streets of Diagon Alley. "Where did you say you were meeting your friend?"

"At Gringotts. She and her parents have to convert a few pounds before they go shopping." Sure enough standing outside the white building was a familiar bushy haired girl with her parents. As soon as he was close enough his friend rammed him with a tight hug. "Hey Hermione."

"Hey Harry!" She paused for a moment as she looked behind her friend to see a familiar face, "Hey Susan, why are you here."

"Long story short?" Harry asked getting a nod from Hermione. "Her aunt, Amelia," he pointed towards Amelia when he said this, "Is my godmother, but some bastard did a memory charm on her before she could get me. We both just found out not even a full day after I left your house. And when I find the guy that did this…" Harry paused and said no more, he really didn't need to. And with both of the Bones nodding in agreement behind him Hermione almost felt bad for whoever did this to her friend, almost being a stretched term in itself.

After introductions they did the usual shopping. Harry waited patiently with Mister Granger as the girls got their robes fitted. Harry was glad he got fitted already otherwise they'd be there for even longer. Apparently both girls were already somewhat friends, both being part of Lockheart's fanclub last year before they found out he was a fraud, so they got along pretty well despite different interest.

The book store was particularly amusing, due to the store owner stating to cry when they asked for third year books. Noticing that it was the book that Hagrid had got him he offered to get them, everyone looked at him strangely as he walked over to the cage holding the feral books. He let out a low hissing growl so no one besides the books could hear him, the books all whimpered and backed away from him huddling together. He opened the cage and pulled two very reluctant books out, "Anyone got anything to bind these with?"

The store owner yelled at his employees to get as much rope, ribbon, chain, or anything else from the back. Five minutes later all the books were bound in various ways and stacked up in the cage.

"Thank you my boy, but how did you do it?"

Harry gave a shrug and a half smile. "You just have to scarier than them." The owner looked at him dumbly and Harry just shrugged again.

Amelia did the Grangers the favor of shrinking their daughter's shopping gifts and put a time charm on it so they'd go back to their actual size in five hours. Hermione wanted to go to the pet store and buy an owl, but her parents managed to talk her out of it, although Harry did offer her to use Hedwig whenever she wanted.

After the two families had a short lunch at the Leaky Cauldron they went their separate ways, all promising to see each other again on September first.

**Sorry it took so long but I had to fix the chapter up, l was too lazy to actually listen to my beta for a while plus I had exams and the holidays… and Chimera is stuck in my head, both plots are already set and planned out, they just need to be written.**


	9. MAJOR NOTE

**Alot of hate mail is going to come from this but... I'm going to stop writing this story. To be more accurate I'm rewritin it and it's going to be up shortly after this chapter. I'm mostly doind this because the orgianl plot and events don't match what they are now so the early chapters don't fit. Plus all the fuck ups I had. Anyway longer chapters and a few things have been redone so I feel satisfied with it.**

**Anyway check out version two coming to a profile near you.**


End file.
